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R. L. ALLEN, M. D 



'He seadeth the springs into the valleys, which rim among the hills. 1 ' — Psa. civ. 10. 



ALBANY, N. Y.: 

J.'MUNSELL, 82 STATE STREET 

1866. 



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STRANGERS' GUIDE 






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K/L. ALLEN, M. D. 



' He senJeth the springs into the valleys, which run among the Hills."— Tsa. civ 10. 




ALBANY, N. Y. : 

J. MUNSELL, 82 STATE STREET. 

1866. 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1859, 

By R. L. Allen, 

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States, for the 

Northern District of New York. 



INTRODUCTION, 



I have been repeatedly solicited to prepare a 
popular work on the mineral fountains of Sara- 
toga Springs, and to point out the places ot 
interest within the limits of the county of Sara- 
toga. This I have endeavored to do, and the 
work is respectfully submitted to the public, by 
the 

Author. 
Saratoga Springs, 1859. 



INTRODUCTION TO THE SECOND EDITION. 



The first edition of the Hand Book ia ex- 
hausted, and its author has been urged to pub- 
lish, a second. He has done so, having added a 
few facts concerning the Geology of the county, 
the probable origin of the mineral water, and a 
brief history of the excavations and tubing of 
the fountains most recently introduced to public 
notice. 

Author. 
Saratoga Springs, 1866. 



HAND-BOOK OF SARATOGA, 



CHAPTER I. 



Saratoga. — This is an Indian word of the Iroquois 
language, and the inflections oga and aga are local 
phrases and mean place* or " inhabitants of."")" And in 
the same sense the inflection aga is used in the words 
On-ond-aga and Sac-and-aga. But what meaning the 
Indians attached to the inflections Sar-at or JSar-agh, in 
the word Sar-at-oga or Sar-agh-oga, we have not been 
able to learn. We know of the locality to which they 
applied the word Saraghtoga, that it was a tract of land 
lying from forty to fifty miles north from Albany, on the 
west bank of the Hudson river. J 

There was doubtless a significancy in the name, for the 
region was, held in high estimation by its immediate 
occupants, and its merits were not unknown to surround- 
ing tribes, as its traditionary history, so far as it has 
been discovered, fully assures us; and as is also shown 
by the public proceedings which were had in reference to 
it, during the early settlements of the country. 

This peculiar tract of country, which was of so 

* Henry E. Schoolcraft's letter to the author. 

t Stone's Life of Johnson. 

% Documentary History of N. Y., vol. i„ p. 156. 



4 Hand-Book of Saratoga. 

much importance to a people in a primitive state of 
of society, lost none of its great value by being trans- 
ferred to an enlightened nation. Wild forests spread 
over a varied landscape, consisting of table-lands, which 
sloped gently toward the banks of the rivers; while 
mountain ridges raised their bold fronts in the distant 
background, and gave origin to the multiplied rivulets, 
creeks, and streams, which traverse the whole face of the 
country, often spreading into lakes which as so many 
eyes in the face of the landscape, imparted life and 
beauty to its features. 

Such a country as this could not but be well calculated 
to supply with food a race of men like the Indians of 
North America. 

The mountain ranges and table-lands were well sup- 
plied with moose, deer, wolves, bears, foxes, rabbits, and 
birds; the rivers also furnished a great variety of fish 
and water fowl j and the productive soil gave them am- 
ple returns for all the seed committed to its bosom. 
With little care, therefore, and only pleasurable exertion, 
were the Indians of this region furnished with food, in 
an abundance and variety not undesirable to civilized 
man of the present period. So also the pelts of the 
deer, the wolf, the fox, and the bear, furnished ample 
protection for their persons, against the greatest severi- 
ties of this climate. 

On the introduction of civilized man to these wilds, 
they were found to be no less adapted to his wants and 
necessities, than they had been to his savage predeces- 
sors. They furnished him as much food as they had pre- 
viously done the Indian ; and in adclitioa he made of the 



Hand-Book of Saratoga. 5 

rivers highways, by means of which he penetrated the 
interior of the country, and gathered up the rich furs 
and skins which were so abundant throughout this wide 
domain, which he bore away to the great marts of trade 
,in his little water craft; on his return trip loading his 
boat with all kinds of implements and food necessary for 
the white man, but which were not supplied in the 
interior. Thus all the appliances necessary for the de- 
velopment of the country soon found their way along the 
rivers far into the interior of the forest. And the water- 
falls which had so long remained undisturbed, rapidly 
became active agents in reducing this immense country 
from its wilderness state to the fit habitation of a civil- 
ized people. 

When the agriculturist first made his investments in 
this new country, we find he selected the very sites which 
had been previously occupied by the aboriginal inhabi- 
tants. And the wild forests which supplied the Indian 
with objects of the chase, furnished the civilized man 
with the variety of lumber necessary to construct his 
houses, enclose his farms, and build his ships. These 
facts remind us that the real wants of man in the differ** 
ent conditions of society, are to be supplied from the 
same source, and perhaps, after all, are not so very unlike 
as some persons may be willing to believe. 



Early Settlement. — In the year 1687, the French 
in Canada had collected six or seven hundred Indian 
warriors about them for the purpose of religious instruc- 
tions, and to increase their military strength. It was as 
an inducement for these Indians to leave their new allies 



6 Hand-Book of Saratoga. 

on the bank of the St. Lawrence, possess themselves of 
the rich plains of Saratoga, and thus make themselves 
allies of England instead of France, that Gov. Dongan 
obtained and tendered to them this tract of land, at that 
time owned by a gentleman in Albany, to whom it had, 
been secured by patent ) * a result very desirable to the 
English interest at that time. 

Settlements were made by the whites from time to 
time, along the banks of the rivers, and the shores of the 
lakes, lying between the bay of New York and the rich 
bottom-lands in the valley of the St. Lawrence. The 
English settlements were made as far up the river as 
Lydius, now Fort Edward, in Washington county, where 
they constructed a fort, built saw-mills, and manufactured 
lumber of various kinds. They had also supplied them- 
selves with goods, provisions, and cattle, which were 
rarely to be obtained by the early settlers in North 
America. This prosperity was to be of short duration. 
In 1742, information was conveyed by one of M. Pic- 
quet's detachments, that the English were pushing their 
settlements up to Lake St. Sacrament, and at the same 
time were making warlike preparations at " Sarasto."*)" 

The French general, on receiving this information, 
dispatched a body of troops under the command of M. 
Marin, accompanied by Father Picquet. This detach- 
ment fell upon the settlement, burnt the fort at Lydius, 
and several saw-mills, with the timber attached; took 
the stock of supplies and all the cattle which they found, 
along fifteen leagues of settlement, and one hundred and 

* Documentary History of N. Y., vol, i., p. 155. 
t Saratoga. 



Hand-Book op Saratoga. 7 

forty-five prisoners, without having a single French sol- 
dier killed or wounded.* 

Sir William Johnson writes to the board of trade, that 
he is building a fort on Lake St. Sacrament, but which 
he will call Lake George, not only in honor of his ma- 
jesty, but to establish the dominion of the king.-)- u I 
received," says Gov. Clinton, " an account, on the 19th 
inst., by express from Albany, that a party of French 
and their Indians had cut off a settlement in this prov- 
ince called Saraghtoge, about fifty miles from Albany, 
and that about twenty houses with a fort were burnt to 
ashes, thirty persons were killed and scalped, and about 
sixty were taken prisoners."! 

This campaign prevented farther efforts at settlement 
until after the conclusion of peace between the French 
and English, in 1748. 

Patents were granted at an early day by the sover- 
eign of Great Britain. One of the earliest grants of 
this kind was the Van Schaick patent, which included 
the present town of "Waterford. The Saratoga patent 
was the next in order of time, and contained a tract of 
land six miles square, and lying on the banks of the Hud- 
son river ,'north of Van Schaick's patent. The Apple pat- 
ent was granted to William Apple, and lay along the Mo- 
hawk river, extending " three miles back into the woods." 
But the most important grant which was made in this 
section of country was the Kayaderosseras patent, which 
was granted to thirteen individuals, and embraced a 



* Documentary History of K Y., vol. i., p. 429. 

t London Documents, xxxi., p. 178, 

% London Documents, xxvii., pp. 87, 235, 30th Nov., 1745. 



8 Hand-Book of Saratoga. 

large proportion of the tract new lying within the limits 
of Saratoga county. 

On the 26th of August, 1702, a grant of land was 
executed by " Te-yon-nin-ho-ge and De-ron-oeh-rak-has, 
Maquas Indians, owners and native proprietors of the- 
land/' to David Schuyler and Robert Livingston, junior, 
citizens of Albany. 

Samson Shelton Broughton, Esq., bought for himself 
and company a license to purchase the tract of vacant 
and unappropriated land in the county of Albany, called 
Kayaderosseras, " adjoining to the north bounds of Sche- 
nectady, on the east side thereof, to the west bounds of 
Saratoga, on the north side thereof, and to Albany river, 
on the west side thereof, of the native Indians and pro- 
prietors thereof, for their cultivation and improvement. 
Ap. 22d, 1703." 

On the sixth of October, 1704, in pursuance of the 
above-mentioned license, a purchase was effected by Sam- 
son Shelton Broughton, Esq., Attorney-General of the 
Province, Peter Fauconnier, Esq., late Commissioner of 
the Customs, and Nanning Hermanse Visher, of the city 
of Albany, mariners, for themselves and the company, 
of the Indians, Joseph Hendrick, Cornelius, Gideon and 
Ames, native Maquas Indians and Sachems, in behalf of 
themselves and all their nation, in consideration of 
the sum of sixty pounds ($150), current money of the 
Province of New York, and of sundry goods to them paid 
in hand. 

In the year 1683, the county of Albany was organized. 
At this date Albany embraced all the territory of New 
York, lying north of Ulster on the west, and Dutchess 



Hand-Book of Saratoga. • 9 

on the east side of the Hudson river. During the con- 
tinuance of this jurisdiction four townships were organ- 
ized north of the Mohawk, and west of the Hudson 
river, viz. : Halfmoon, Stillwater, Saratoga, and Ballston. 
Eighty-five years after the organization of the county of 
Albany, there were but ten counties in the State of 
New York, viz : New York, Westchester, Dutchess, 
Orauge, Ulster, Albany, Richmond, Kings, Queens and 
Suffolk. 

In the year 1791, or one hundred and eight years after 
the organization of the county of Albany, the county of 
Saratoga was taken from that part of Albany county lying- 
north of the Mohawk and west of the Hudson rivers. 
Its greatest length from north to south is forty miles, and 
its greatest width from east to west is twenty-eight miles. 
It lies between 42° 46', and 43° 23' north latitude, and 
3° 21' and 2° 47' east longitude from "Washington, and 
contains eight hundred square miles. It is bounded on 
the north by the Hudson river and the county of War- 
ren ) on the west by the counties of Franklin, Mont- 
gomery, and Schenectady ; on the south by Schenectady 
county, and the Mohawk river, which separates it from 
the county of Albany, and on the east by the Hudson 
river, which separates it from the counties of Rensselaer 
and Washington. 

This county is now divided into twenty townships ; 
the names of each, and the date of their respective organi- 
zations, are as follow : 

Ballston, organized in the year 1788. The first set- 
tlement was made in this town in 1763, by two brothers 
of the name of McDonald. The town derives its name 



10 Hand-Book of Saratoga. 

from the Rev. Eliphalet Ball, who, with a number of his 
congregation, from Bedford, Westchester county, settled 
about two and a half miles south of the springs. Balls- 
ton Centre, East Line, Burnt Hills, and South Ballston> 
have post-offices. 

Halfmoon, lying on the Hudson, was organized in 
1788. Crescent, Halfmoon, and Mechanicsville, have 
post-offices. 

Saratoga and Stillwater were organized also in 1788. 
Saratoga has a river margin on the east, the beautiful 
Lake of Saratoga on the west, and the winding stream 
of Fish Creek coursing its way from the shores of the 
lake to the banks of the Hudson at Schuylerville; these, 
with its undulating surface and productive soil, make 
it one of the most interesting townships in Saratoga 
county. Schuylerville was the residence of General 
Schuyler, whose mansion and surrounding buildings 
were destroyed under General Burgoyne in 1777. The 
place where General Burgoyne surrendered his sword to 
General Gates is said to be a short distance north of the 
site of the old Schuyler mansion, on which stands the 
dwelling-house now occupied by George Strover, Esq. 
Coveville, Dean's Corners, Grangerville, Schuylerville, 
Quaker Springs, and Victory Mills, have post-offices. 

Stillwater is .also on the west bank of the Hudson 
river, and south of Saratoga. The village of Mechanics- 
ville is situated partly in this town and partly in Half- 
moon. About, four miles above Mechanicsville, and on 
the Champlain canal, is Stillwater village. In this 
town are Bemis Heights, the scene of the engagement 
between Burgoyne and General Gates, in 1777, so 



Hand-Book of Saratoga. 11 

famous in Kevolutionary annals, and on which hung 
results so important in their bearing upon the great 
struggle between Great Britain and her Colonies. Mr. 
J. Walker's house is two and a half miles from Patter- 
son's tavern, and two miles from the Hudson river. A 
few rods south of this house is the " meadow " on which 
General Frazer fell, mortally wounded ; it is a little west 
of the road which now runs north and south directly 
past the place. Near the spot where Frazer fell, is the 
common grave of forty soldiers, whose bodies were com- 
• mitted to their final resting-place after the engagement. 
But about sixty rods in a southwest direction was the , 
scene of the main action, which occurred on the 7th of 
October, 1777. The post-offices are Bemis Heights, Ket- 
ch urn's Corners, and Stillwater. 

Charlton. — In the year 1792, Charlton, Galway, and 
Milton, were taken from Ballston and organized as town- 
ships in Saratoga county. Charlton has post-offices at 
Charlton and West Charlton. 

Galway has East Galway, Galway, Mosherville, 
Whiteside's Corners, North Galway, and South Galway, 
as post-offices. 

Milton, Rock City Mills, West Milton, and Ballston. 
The latter is the county-seat of Saratoga county. It 
was incorporated in 1807. The village is situated 
thirty miles north from Albany, twenty-four from 
Troy, fifteen from Schenectady, and seven south west 
from Saratoga Springs. The village of. Ballston is 
situated in a valley, and is built on either side of the 
small stream which is a branch of the Kayaderosseras 
creek. Within the limits of the village are the Mineral 



12 Hand-Book of Saratoga. 

fountains, some of which at one time had a high reputa- 
tion for their medicinal qualities ) and large numbers of 
strangers annually resorted to them for their healing 
virtues. But, from the nature of one of the substrata 
which underlie the village, and through which its min- 
eral water percolates, it has been found difficult to secure 
it at all times in its best forms, and consequently the 
springs of this pleasant village, which, in times past, 
were so justly celebrated, have ceased to be used either 
at the fountains or for bottling. It is well supplied with 
churches and hotels ; and the fact that it contains the 
public buildings of the county, adds not a little interest 
to the village. 

The mineral fountains in this village were discovered 
in the year 1767. In 1772, an individual by the name 
of Douglass built a log house for the accommodation of 
strangers who resorted hither for the benefit of the 
mineral water. During the Revolutionary War, the far- 
ther developments of the town were suspended; but 
about the year 1790, Mr. Douglass enlarged his former 
accommodations for the increased number of strangers. 

In 1804, Nicholas Low erected the present Sans-Souci 
hotel; it is built of wood, is three stories high; main 
building one hundred and sixty feet long, and wings one 
hundred and fifty feet. 

Greenfield was taken from Saratoga and Milton in 
1793. West Greenfield, Greenfield Centre, Porter's Cor- 
ners, North- Greenfield, Mount Pleasant, and Middle 
Grove, have post-offices. 

Providence was organized in 1796. It was taken 
from the town of Gal way. Providence, West Provi- 
dence, and Barkersville, have post-offices. 



Hand-Book of Saratoga. 13 

Northumberland is situated on the banks of the 
Hudson river. It was taken from Saratoga in 1798. 
Gansevoort and Northumberland are the post-offices. 

Edinburgh and Hadley were organized in 1801. 
The former was taken' from Providence, and has post- 
offices at Edinburgh and at Batchelorville. The latter 
was taken from Greenfield and Northumberland, and has 
post-offices at Hadley and West Hadley. 

In 1802, Malta was taken from Stillwater. Malta- 
ville and Malta have post-offices. 

Moreau is a pleasant and flourishing township lying on 
the banks of the Hudson river. This stream bounds the 
town on the northeast and on the northwest. It was 
taken from the town of Northumberland in the year 
1805. Moreau Station, Fortsville, and South Glens 
Falls, have post-offices. 

Waterford was organized in 1816. It is pleasantly 
situated at the confluence of the Mohawk and Hudson 
rivers. Waterford is a pleasant village, and for many 
years was the business village of the county ; but canals 
and railroads have diminished its importance, and its 
trade is now inconsiderable. 

In 1818, Corinth and Wilton were organized. The 
former was taken from Hadley; Corinth, formerly called 
Jessup's Landing, is a small village : it and South Cor- 
inth have each a post-office; the latter was taken from 
Northumberland. Wilton has the post-office. 

Day and Saratoga Springs were organized in 1819. 
The former was taken from Edinburgh and Hadley, and 
occupies the northwest part of the county. Day and 
Wesc Day are the names of its post-offices. 
3 



14 Hand-Book op Saratoga. 

Saratoga Springs, in the centre of the county, is 
second to no inland village in the state. Its hotels are 
spacious and elegant, and its churches are large, commo- 
dious, and elaborate in finish. Many of the private 
residences are handsome, and the number is annually 
increasing in and about the village, of such as belong to 
gentlemen who have retired upon their fortunes ; but the 
mineral fountains are the great attraction of the place. 
They are numerous, but few of them have been so per- 
fectly curbed as to render the water suitable for bottling 
and exportation. This village is one hundre'd and eighty- 
one miles from New York city, and thirty-six and a half 
from Albany. It is beautifully situated three hundred 
feet above tide water. The Kayaderosseras mountain, 
two thousand feet above the level of the sea, raises its' 
summit within ten or twelve miles of the village, on the 
west and north; while the G-reen mountains stretch 
along the eastern horizon at a distance of about twenty 
miles; the high ranges of the Catskill skirt the extreme 
south. The surrounding country is well watered; the 
atmosphere is dry and highly electrified ; the climate 
entirely unlike that of Boston, New York, and the 
whole seaboard, as those well know, who have been 
exposed to a sixty days' east wind on our northeastern 
coasts. The village is very accessible by means of 
railroads. Its mineral water is 'sui generis. It is an 
article of commerce, and the civilized world are cus- 
tomer's; and many thousands of persons annually bear 
testimony to its happy medicinal effects, when drunk at 
the fountains. 

Clifton Park was the last town organized in the 



Hand-Book of Saratoga. 15 

-county. It was taken from Halfnioon in 1828. Rexford's 
Flats, Clifton Park, Vischer's Ferry, Jonesville, Groom's 
Corners, and Dry Dock, are post-offices in this town. 



CHAPTER II. 

Sir William Johnson was the first white man who 
visited these springs, and the first civilized person who 
applied then as a remedial agent. It is true that Michael 
McDonald, a Scotchman, who had previously settled at 
Ballston Lake, was one of Johnson's party, and must 
have been at the High Rock at the same time with the baro- 
net and his Indian "guides; but we have ho information 
of his having previously visited them, although . he had 
settled so near them. And his visit at this time, was at 
the instance of Johnson, who, with his party, had stayed 
the previous night at McDonald's house. Johnson's 
visit was caused by an indisposition, which so far disa- 
bled him, that he was unfit to travel over the rude passes 
which then lay between this and Johnstown. And we 
are informed that the Indians bore him in a litter from 
Johnstown, in Montgomery, county, along the banks of 
the Mohawk to Schenectady, and thence, by Ballston 
lake, to this place, at that time a wilderness, fiere he 
stayed some time, used the water, and so far recovered 
his health that he returned to Johnstown, by the way of 
Schenectady, on foot. His cure was attributed, by him 
and his friends, to the water which he drank from the 



16 Hand-Book of Saratoga. 

High Rock spring. He being a public man, bis cure in- 
duced other white people from the adjacent settlements 
to visit the spring, and for themselves, to try its virtue. 
And the sick and the curious could be very often seen 
winding their solitary way toward this health-giving foun- 
tain, along the trails which led from settlements in old 
Saratoga, in the vicinity of Snake hill, and back into 
the wild forest of Palmertown, now the town of Wilton. 

So important had these fountains become, in 1773, 
that one Dirick Scowton was induced to remove to them, 
clear away a piece of ground, on the top of the hill in 
the rear of the High Rock spring, and build a log cabin. 
But before he had completed his rude tenement, he is 
said to have had a misunderstanding with the Indians 
who were living about the springs, and found it for his 
interest and personal safety to abandon his enterprise, 
which he did accordingly. 

In the year 1774, one John Arnold, from the state of 
Rhode Island, with his family, arrived on the east shore 
of Saratoga lake. Here he heard such accounts of the 
mineral springs, and the land about them, that he was 
induced to continue his journey thus much farther. 
After having supplied himself with articles suitable for 
trading with the Indians, he procured a canoe, put on 
board his family, his little stock in trade, together with 
provisions and some furniture, and paddled from Snake 
hill across the lake, and entered the mouth of the 
Kayaderosseras creek. This stream he followed about 
two miles, where he landed; and he and his family, 
taking his goods and household furniture on their backs, 
entered upon a trail which they followed to the mineral 



Hand-Book of Saratoga. 17 

springs. On arriving here, he took possession of the 
house previously built by Scowton, and having im- 
proved it, opened it as a tavern, and occupied it two 
summers, leaving it the intervening winter. After the 
second summer he abandoned it. 

Its next occupant was Samuel Norton, who took pos- 
session of the house the same season in which Arnold 
left it, and made farther improvements in it. The fol- 
lowing year he cleared and cultivated as well as he 
could, the land about him. Norton acted under the pa- 
tronage of Isaac Law, who had previously obtained a 
title to the land, by purchase from Rip Van Dam. In 
this purchase Law was associated with Anthony Van 
Dam and Jacob Walton. The troubles with Great Bri- 
tain having now commenced, Norton became concerned 
for the safety of himself and family in their exposed 
situation ; he therefore abandoned the improvements 
that he had made, united himself w r ith the British army, 
and soon after died. His death left the springs again 
without a white inhabitant. Law left the country dur- 
ing the Revolution, and his property was confiscated. 

In 17 8G, Henry Livingston purchased of the commis- 
sioners of forfeiture, for himself and brothers, the land 
and improvements which had previously belonged to Law. 

In 1783, a son of Norton removed to the springs, took 
possession of the property previously occupied by his 
father, and prosecuted the improvements already beguu. 
until the year 1787, when he sold to Gideon Morgan, 
who the same year conveyed it to Alexander Bryan, 
who built a blacksmith's shop, and an additional log 
house which he opened as a tavern. Bryan, we are in- 



18 Hand-Book of Saratoga. 

formed, was born in Connecticut; at an early day lie 
removed to Dutchess ' county, in this state, thence to 
Halfmoon, two miles from Waterford, now in this county, 
and finally to Saratoga Springs. During the revolu- 
tionary struggle he was-at Halfmoon, and, strange as it 
may appear, he is said to have been a favorite with both 
parties ; and so well did he manage the matters of dif- 
ference, that he became the confidant of both parties, 
and was employed as a spy by both Grates and Burgoyne. 
While the latter lay with his forces at Fort Edward, he 
communicated to Generaf Gates the fact that Burgoyne 
had crossed the river, and was marching his army toward 
Stillwater. This information was considered at the time 
important to the American army. Bryan was the first 
permanent settler at the springs after the close of the 
war. 

Gideon Putnam, the son of Rufus and Mary Put- 
nam, was born in the town of Sutton, in the state of 
Massachusetts, in the year 1764. Before his majority 
he purchased his time of his father for one hundred dol- 
lars, and married Miss Doanda Risley at Hartford, Conn., 
daughter of Benjamin Risley. He immediately set out 
" to seek his fortune ; ;; his only means of support for 
himself and wife, being a strong arm and a determined 
will. The route they took led them to Middlebury, Vt. 
Here, in the midst of the wilderness they halted, and 
rudely threw together a log cabin. This cabin was built 
around a white oak stump which was squared upon the 
top, and served them as a table ; the cabin was without 
a chimney. Their seats were made with three legs of 



Hand-Book of Saratoga. 10 

wood driven into a piece of timber riven from a log. 
The site of this cabin is now occupied by the Middle- 
bury college buildings. Their household possessions 
consisted of three white teacups and saucers, three white 
plates, " three knives and forks, a dish-kettle, an earthen 
tea-pot and a spider." They cut out the top of a stump 
deeply concave, and then mounted a heavy sweep which 
turned a wooden pestle, fitted to the excavation in the 
stump. This homely apparatus was the mill in which 
they ground their grain. There was a "grist-mill" 
forty miles from them, but a dense forest lay between, 
and blazed trees pointed out the way. , Their oldest 
child was born at Middlebury. Not finding this situa- 
tion quite to their minds, they removed to Rutland, Vt. 
While at Rutland their eldest son Benjamin Putnam 
was born. From Rutland they removed to the Five 
Nations, or Bemis Flats. Here they were joined by 
Dr. Clement Blakesly and his wife, who was a sister of 
Mrs. Putnam. " The lay of the country, the quality of 
the soil, and the appearance of the timber " suited him j 
and at once he put up a cabin, which was occupied by 
his brother-in-law and himself, with their families, to- 
gether with a hired man by the name of Elijah Olds. 
At Bemis Flats the "elements warred against them, and 
proved more than a match for even Putnam's strength 
and energy. A violent rain-storm falling in the middle 
t of the night, flooded the surrounding country, and drove 
the hardy pioneers with their wives and little ones, on 
to their beds, furniture, &c, out of the reach of the 
water, which covered the cabin floor ; without, as far as 
they could see, was one vast sheet of water. In this 



20 Hand-Book of Saratoga. 

condition was this bold, vigorous, and determined man 
caged, and unable to extricate himself or his household. 
Yet in the midst of all this darkness and distress they 
were thought of and cared for. A good man by the 
name of Zophar Scidrnore, living on the east shore of 
the lake, knew that some emigrants had commenced a 
farm on the flats, and being acquainted with the 
situation of their cabin, he felt sure they must be in 
suffering, if not dangerous circumstances ; he therefore 
loosed his sail-boat, and taking a light canoe in tow, 
made all possible haste to their rescue. On nearing the 
cabin he fastened his sail-boat to some float wood which 
lay piled upon the bank, and rowed his canoe up to the 
door of the cabin, and conveyed first Mrs. Putnam" and 
her young child to his sail-boat ; after securing them 
safely, he returned to the cabin for Mr. Putnam, whom 
he also rowed to the sail-boat. Here Scidmore joined 
Mrs. Putnam, and conveyed her to his own house. 
After safely disposing of his passengers, he returned to 
the flood wood, whither during his absence the remainder 
of the family had been conveyed in the canoe by Put- 
nam. Reloading his little craft with Mrs. Blakesly, and 
the other child, he returned to his house ; and in the 
course of the day, he had rescued the whole family, and 
had them safely lodged under his most hospitable roof. 
This calamity induced Putnam to abandon his improve- 
ments at Bemis Flats, and after the storm was over, 
he, with his family, and, in company with Dr. and Mrs. 
Blakesly, left the house of their benefactor, and entered 
on an Indian trail, which they followed to the Springs, 
then scarcely known ; this occurred in the year 1789. 



Hand-Book of Saratoga. 21 

On arriving at what is now the village of Saratoga 
Springs, he selected a piece of land, near a fresh-water 
spring, and built a cabin. This land is now owned by 
Joel Clement, and the site of the cabin is a few rods to 
the east of Clement's stone house, in the west part of the 
vilkge. 

On reviewing his position at Saratoga, Putnam said 
to his wife, " This is a healthy place, the mineral springs 
are valuable, and the timber is good and in great abund- 
ance, and I can build me a great house" a desire which 
had haunted him from childhood. He at once leased 
three hundred acres of land, girdled the trees about him, 
and put in his crops, and when he could not work upon 
his farm, he employed himself and his man Olds, who 
remained with him for years, in making staves and 
shingles, which he carried to the Hudson river, at the 
mouth of Fish creek. The ensuing spring he put them 
into a raft, and floated them to New York city, where 
he met with a ready sale, and returned with means to 
build a saw-mill. On his return to his farm, he found a 
new neighbor by the name of William Patching, a wheel- 
wright by trade, with whose assistance, he soon had his 
mill in successful operation, and kept it running night 
and day. This mill was southwest from his house, and 
the pond belonging to it has been known to many gene- 
rations of the boys of the village, and, indeed, is still 
familiar to the present race, as Put's pond, and has 
been a favorite swimming-place ever since. Dr. Blakesly 
built a log-house where Benjamin Putnam for many 
years afterwards resided. The next spring, Putnam's 
sawed lumber, added to his staves and shingles, made 



22 Hand-Book of Saratoga. 

hirn a large raft, which he floated to New York. Build- 
ing materials being scarce, and the demand for them 
being great in the city, he obtained a handsome sum for 
his year's labor. With the funds thus realized, he 
clothed himself and family, provided a great variety of 
necessaries, and brought home besides " one peck meas- 
ure of silver coin/' in an old-fashioned pair of saddlebags; 
with which money he paid for the three hundred 
acres of land that he had previously held by a lease. 
But his new garments so changed his personal appear- 
ance that his wife did not know him on his return. One 
fancy article which he brought back with hirn from his 
voyage, was a red silk umbrella, which his eldest daugh- 
ter flourished on the ensuing Sunday. Near the saw- 
mill pond was the Indian-Joe-field, which had been 
cleared and cultivated by the Indians. This field Put- 
nam used to great advantage, and some of the herbs now 
growing there are said to have been originally planted 
on the place by the Indians. This farm is now in the 
possession of James M. Andrews, Esq. 

The third year after Putnam and Blakesly built their 
cabins on opposite sides of the road, Blakesly left, and 
Putnam enlarged the cabin built by Blakesly, and occu- 
pied it himself. From this cabin Putnam removed back 
into what is the present village, and occupied for the 
year, the house now owned by Thadeus Smith.* after- 
wards moved into a log cabin, which stood upon the spot 
where the St. Nicholas Hall has been recently built by 
one of his descendants. While living here, and in the 

* This house was destroyed by fire in 18G3. 



Hand-Book of Saratoga. 23 

year 1802, he purchased of Henry "Walton, one acre of 
land, removed a few of the primitive trees, and built 
seventy feet of the present Union Hall* — his mechanics 
lodging in the attic of the cabin, to which they went up 
on the outside by a ladder, and their table was set out- 
side. The spot was then in the midst of the forest, and 
so large a building was a novel thing for the time. A 
wagon way had been made at this time, between Sara- 
toga and Ballston, and just as Putnam had his house 
completed, some gentlemen riding past, and observing 
the house, said, in the hearing of Putnam, " That man 
has forgotten the admonition of John Rogers, ' Build not 
your house-top too high.' " This was the realization of 
the day-dreams of Putnam's childhood.")" In 1805, he 
purchased from Henry Walton, another strip of land, 
which was forty-four rods wide and four hundred and 
seventy-two rods and seven feet long, and extended from 
the east side of what is now Franklin street to the lands 
of Jacobus Barhyte, containing one hundred and thirty 
acres. On the west end of this purchase he laid out a 
village, in the southwest corner of wliich, being a por- 
tion of the last purchase, he appropriated a piece of land for 
aburying-ground, which he afterward gave to the village, 
and in it, many of the " forefathers of the hamlet sleep." 



* This building, with its -wings, is 050 feet in length, and contains about 
400 lodging-rooms ; and the grounds occupied by the buildings and appro- 
priated to the use of the hotel, are in area about four acres. 

t His sign was a rudely-painted representation of Putnam and the wolf, 
and is now in the possession of his grandson, George R. Putnam. The 
tavern was on the site of the present Union Hall, now owned and occupied 
by his descendants, until 1SG4, when it was purchased by the Lelaud 
brother?. 



24 Hand-Book of Saratoga. 

In 1806, he excavated and tubed the Washington 
Spring, and soon after this he tubed the present Colum- 
bian Spring. The number of strangers at the Springs 
began now to increase annually, spme of whom would 
come up from Ballston, take dinner with Putnam at 
Union Hall, drink the Congress water, and return to 
Ballston. At this time, he built a bath house on the 
ground directly north from Congress Spring, and six or 
eight feet from the fountain, to supply mineral water for 
which he excavated a- mineral spring about fifteen feet 
from the present Congress fountain. 

Putnam next tubed the Hamilton Spring and some- 
time afterward moved his bathing house from Congress 
Spring to the Hamilton. In 1811, he began Congress 
Hall •* while his masons were plastering the north end 
of the piazza, he was walking upon the scaffolding, which 
at the moment -gave way, and the whole party were pre- 
cipitated on to the timbers and rocks below, the floor not 
having yet been laid. The master-mason, Sullard, died 
instantly, his neck being broken. All the masons who 
fell were more or less injured; Putnam had some of his 



* In the year 1814, Congress Hall property was purchased by Grandus 
Van Sehoonhoven, and, in 1815, he finished the buildings according to the 
plan of Mr. Putnam, and opened the house for the reception of company. 
Mr. Van Sehoonhoven kept the house until 1822, when he associated with 
hfm, in business, his nephew, Samuel H. Drake, Esq. The ensuing year, 
the company was still further extended by the addition of John E. Beek- 
man, and John McDougal Lawrence, as silent partners. From the year 
1823, the house was leased from time to time, until 1855, when Henry H. 
Hathorn and Harvey P. Hall, purchased the property of Z. V. Kingsley, 
Esq., one of the descendants of Mr. Van Sehoonhoven. 

Messrs. Hathorn & Hall, greatly extended and improved the house by 
adding a brick wing, M'hich, at- its eastern end is six stories high and ex- 



Hand-Book of Saratoga. 25 

ribs broken, was otherwise bruised, and was confined to 
his bed for several weeks after the accident, and it is 
supposed he never entirely recovered from the injuries 
which he sustained by the fall. In the ensuing Novem- 
ber he was attacked by an inflammation of his lungs, of 
which he died on the first day of December, 1812. He 
was the first to be laid in the burying-ground which he 
had presented to the village, and thus ended the earthly 
career of this hardy, resolute, and enterprising pioneer, 
whose labors were so interwoven with the early history 
of the place. 

It was to Putnam that we are indebted, more than to 
any other individual, for improvements at the Springs, 
during this period of its history. His enterprise and 
energy cleared away the forest-trees from the adjacent 
plains, converted the rich pineries into materials and 
means for the further development of the town, erected 
public buildings for the accommodation of visitors, 
opened highways about the town, improved and laid out 
streets in the village ; excavated, tubed and secured the 
mineral springs. He was emphatically the man of his 



tends from the old building east on the south side of Bath street, to Put- 
nam street. They also altered many of the old rooms, and furnished the 
whole building in modern style. In 1S57, Richard McMichael, Esq., pur- 
chased Harvey P. HalFs interest in the property, and the company made 
another addition to the building, so that, at the present time (1859), it is 
one of the largest hotels in the country, and well furnished. 

The grounds extend on Broadway 379 feet, and east on Bath street to the 
west line of Putnam street. And the proximity of the hotel to the Con- 
gress Spring and its truly beautiful park, makes it one of the most desira- 
ble summer resorts in Saratoga. In 1S64, Elliott McOmber, purchased the 
interest of Richard McMichael, and the new firm greatly enlarged and im- 
proved the hotel. 

4 



26 Hand-Book of Saratoga. 

day in this locality, and lie made such an impression on 
the place of his choice, that his name must be coexist- 
ent with the history of the village, which his energy did 
so much to develop. He possessed a will which no or- 
dinary obstacle could long withstand, and by his exer- 
tions the din and hum of civilization soon took the place of 
the deep and solemn murmur of the primitive pine forest. 
Originally a rocky ledge lay along the bluff which 
faced the valley. This ledge began at the Columbian 
Spring, thence running in a northeasterly line to the 
south side of Congress street. From this point it took 
a more northerly direction, passing over the ground 
now occupied by the Congress hall, and the present 
row of buildings north of it, on the east side of Broad- 
way, until it reaches the spot on which Nathan Lewis 
built the second brick house ever erected in the place. 
This house is still in good preservation, and is now oc- 
cupied by George H. Fish, as a drug store. From this 
point, the rock clipped toward the north with so strong 
an angle, that, at a distance of only seven or eight rods, 
a well was sunk to the depth of thirty feet and yet did 
not come to the rock. Through a deep gorge in the 
table-land, leading to the valley near what is now Caro- 
line street, passed the surface and spring water of the 
gradually rising land which lies in the rear; to pass 
this gorge, the wagon road from the Congress Spring to 
the High rock was made to run westerly nearly as far 
as the Grlobe hotel. After passing the gorge, the road 
took a more easterly turn to the upper village, through 
the Ten Springs ; thence easterly on the sandy ridge 
north of the Bear swamp to Scidmore's tavern ; from 



Hand-Book of Saratoga. 27 

Scidmore's (now Birch's), to G-rangerville, and Schuyler- 
ville. on the Hudson river. Over this road passed 
much of the lumber of these extensive pineries. Just 
above the present Columbian Hotel, this rocky bluff 
agaiu appears, and extends to the sandy ridge north of 
the upper village. So barren was this ridge of rocks, that 
only a few shrubs and cicuta grew upon it. 

Miles Beach moved from Ballston, to this place about 
the year 1806. He built a store on the site of the brick 
building, recently burnt, next north from Congress Hall,* 
on the east side of Broadway, which was the first store 
opened in this part of the village. He afterward built a 
distillery on the back part of the same lot. The first 
brick house in the place was built by Ashabel Andrews, 
on the south corner of Washington street and Broadway, 
and was the residence of the late Bev. Francis Way- 
land, j" Nathan Lewis afterward built the Pavilion, 
which was opened May 26th, 1819; it stood on the 
east side of Broadway, and north from the Columbian 
Hotel. The Pavilion was surrounded by handsome 
grounds, on which have since been built the present 
Presbyterian church, the residence of D. B. Harring- 
ton, Esq., and at the present time the residence of the 
Hon. James M. Cook. The Pavilion was destroyed by 
fire several years since. 

The first clearing in the south part of the village was 
made by Indian Jo, a half-breed, on the rising ground 
south of the Union. 

* Congress Hall was burnt May 29, 1866. 

t Since this work has been in press, the building has been demolished, 
and the site is now occupied by a portion of Union hall. 



28 Hand-Book op Saratoga. 

In 1783, the springs had become so important that 
G-eneral Philip Schuyler opened a road to them, 
twelve miles through a forest from the mouth of Fish 
creek, where he had effected a settlement, erected mills, 
and made many other improvements. Here he raised a 
tent, under which he and his family remained several 
weeks, and used the mineral water. And so much were 
they pleased with the effects of the water, that the next 
year he built a small house, for the use of himself and 
family during the summer season, which he continued to 
occupy every succeeding year of his life. This was the 
first framed house built in the place. It consisted of two 
rooms, with a stone fire place and chimney ; and was 
finished inside and out with rough boards. 

In 1823, John Ford built the original part of the 
United States Hotel. Two years after he added the 
south wing. Afterward it passed into the hands of 
James M. Marvin & Co., who have made annual im- 
provements in the buildings and grounds. This hotel 
is now among the most capacious and fashionable public 
houses in the country ; there are about six acres in the 
grounds, and it requires a mile and a half of roof to 
cover the buildings.* 

The Taylor Brothers, who were the earliest mer- 
chants in the place, began business at the upper village, 
and also carried on a heavy lumber trade. The Taylors 
were active, business men, and were more or less con- 
nected with all the important events belonging to the 
early history of the country.f 

t For a full history of the Taylors, see Steele's Analysis. 

* This large hotel together with the Mansion house was destroyed by fire. 



Hand-Book of Saratoga. 29 

William Waterbury was the son of Josiah and 
Mary Waterbury. He was born in Stamford, Vt., Nov. 
24, 1766. At the age of nineteen married Miss Anna 
Crawford. When twenty-one years of age he emigrated 
with his wife to East line, in the town of Ballston, Sara- 
toga county, where he remained two years, and then 
purchased the farm now occupied and owned by Elihu 
Wing, in Greenfield. Two years after he sold this farm, 
and purchased a farm of one hundred acres, which lies 
next south of what is now Congress street, in the west 
part of the village, for which he paid 83.25 per acre. 
His deed was executed by Thomas Storms and John K. 
Beekman, then residents of the city of New York. Wil- 
liam and his brother Samuel afterward came in possession 
of a piece of land which had been owned by Benjamin 
Risley, and afterward sold by him to Silas Duel. Samuel 
improved his part, and occupied it for several years, and 
then sold it to Frederick Ellsworth, and removed to 
Chatauque Co. A part of the house on the north side 
of Congress street, now owned and occupied by Jonathan 
Pitney, is the original building erected by Samuel Wa- 
terbury. William Waterbury made agriculture his main 
business, but afterward added that of a butcher. In the 
winter seasons he was employed with his team in haul- 
ing lumber for his neighbors, from the surrounding 
pineries to the Hudson river. Waterbury connected 
himself with the Baptist church in the year 1811. The 
society was then under the care of Rev. E. P. Lang- 
worthy, who remained its pastor for eighteen consecu- 
tive years. Their first house of worship was a log build- 
ing, which stood on Shipman's hill, about four miles 



30 Hand-Book of Saratoga. 

south of the springs. They next, in 1809, built a frame 
house on the Ellis farm, two miles south of the village, 
which was afterward removed up to the village, and is 
now one of the out-buildings of the United States Hotel. 
Some beautiful trees standing about eighty rods east of 
Carrigan's mills, on the south road which leads to the 
residence of the late Isaac Patrick, mark the place which 
this building occupied. The society continued to meet 
at this place, until 1821, at which time they erected a 
house of worship, on a lot presented to the society by 
Gideon Putnam's heirs. The present Baptist church 
edifice, completed in 1856, stands on the same spot. 

At the time Grideon Putnam laid out the village, he 
set apart this site, on which to erect a house of worship, 
and directed it to be given to any religious society who 
would place upon it a suitable building. The Baptist 
society were the first applicants, and it was accordingly 
deeded to them by the heirs of Grideon Putnam. 

When William Waterbury first reached the county, 
he owed the man who moved him seven dollars, and 
had but two and a half dollars to pay him with. He 
also owned a mowing scythe, and a pocket knife j really 
a small outfit of implements, and not over-well adapted 
to begin life in a forest wilderness. He was elected 
constable, which office he continuously filled for eleven 
years. He died on the 16th July, 1843. 

Hon. Henry Walton, one of the largest land-holders 
of the place, was born in the city of New York, on the 
8th of October, 1768. At the age of twelve years, he 
was sent to England, under the special guardianship of 
Peter Van Schaack, Esq., of Kinderhook, to be educated. 



Hand-Book op Saratoga. 31 

In his twentieth year, he returned to the city of New 
York, and commenced the study of law, under the direc- 
tion of the late Aaron Burr. After the conclusion of 
his legal studies, in the year 1790, he removed to the 
town of Ballston, in the county of Saratoga, where he 
had purchased a tract of land, and built a house. This 
place is now known as the "Delavan farm." He re- 
mained upon this farm until the year 1810, when he 
sold it to a Mr. Porter, and removed with his family to 
the city of Albany, where he resided until the year 
1816 j when he came to the village of Saratoga Springs, 
and took possession of the real estate which he inherited 
from his father, and his uncle, who died without issue. 
During his residence in Albany, in 1815, he built Pine 
Grove,* and occupied it for a few years, when he re- 
turned to the city of New York. After an absence of 
five years, he returned to Saratoga Springs, and imme- 
diately erected a beautiful country seat on that part of 
his real estate lying north of the village, to which he 
gave the name of " Wood Lawn." His possessions in 
this place were bounded by what is now Congress street, 
on the south ; John Denton's farm on the north ; and 
lands of Jacobus Barhydt, and others, on the east, in- 
cluding all the present village of Saratoga Springs, ex- 
cept what lies south of Congress street, and the mineral 
fountains. He inherited also many other tracts of land 
in different parts of the county. 

Henry Walton was a tall, fine-looking man ; truly 
gentlemanlike in his manners and feelings, he had the 

* The present residence of Ex-Chancellor Walworth. 



32 Hand-Book of Saratoga. 

faculty of binding to himself in close social ties the edu- 
cated and refined about him. He was warmly attached 
to the Episcopal church, and was one of the principal 
men whose early efforts were brought to bear in behalf 
of this society at the springs. To him belongs the honor 
of presenting the site for the first Presbyterian church 
edifice built in this place.* And also the site occupied 
by the Universalist church on Church street. The 
grounds now occupied by the " Broadway Hotel," were 
given to the Methodists by him. He excavated the shaft, 
tubed the Flat-rock Spring, and built over it a chaste 
little Chinese structure, which remained over the foun- 
tain for many years after his death. He also excavated 
and tubed the President, afterward called Saratoga Star 
Spring since 1862. Mr. Walton was a man of high cul- 
ture, and polished mind ; with tastes refined by nature, 
and cultivated by travel and observation. He was his 
own architect, and his skill in this branch of art has 
been illustrated in his several residences, at Ballston, 
Saratoga, Greenfield, Wood Lawn, and in the Pa- 
vilion Hotel, built by Mr. Lewis in the years 1818 and 
1819. He died in the city of New York, on the 15th of 
September, 1844, in the seventy-sixth year of his age. 

* The Rev. D. O. Grieswold was the officiating clergyman of this so- 
ciety, at the time the edifice was erected, to whose efforts the society is 
largely indebted for its early prosperity and usefulness. 



Hand-Book of Saratoga. 33 

CHAPTER III. 

Geology. 

The rocks of this county belong to the Laurentian 
and Silurian ages. The Laurentian rocks are the oldest 
which have been geologically examined, and until re- 
cently were supposed to have been formed before the in- 
troduction of animal or vegetable life upon the earth, 
and were therefore called Azoic. But recent discover- 
ies connected with the Canadian geological survey, have 
proved this supposition incorrect for the Rhizopod and 
other associate fossils have been found, even in the lower 
beds of the Laurentian system. These discoveries have 
induced geologists in different countries to discontinue 
the name of Azoic and adopt in its stead, that of Lauren- 
tian in accordance with the suggestion of Sir William 
Logan. This is also the only universal rock formation 
now known upon the earth. It forms the highest moun- 
tains, and underlies all other formations. The different 
epochs of the Laurentian system, are represented by the 
crystaline limestone, the gneiss, granite, and syenite 
rocks. The crystaline limestone does not exist as a sur- 
face rock within the limits of the county. The other 
three are abundant in its northern and western portions, 
and compose the mountain masses of the Kayaderosseras 
and Palmertown ranges. Beds of available granite oc- 
cur in the different ranges, and particularly in the south- 
ern outcrops of the Palmertown mountains about two 
miles north of the village of Saratoga Springs. These 



34 Hand-Book of Saratoga. 

beds lie within short distances of rail roads, and as it is 
a down grade from these quarries to tide-water, blocks 
of granite of any desirable size, may be practicably con- 
veyed to the river and seaboard cities. 

Among the minerals of these rocks, are the chryso- 
beryl, tourmaline, garnet, feldspar, apatelite, and mica, all 
of which occur in a single vein of granite traversing 
gneiss, and are to be found in the town of Greenfield, 
about one mile north of Saratoga Springs. 

The iron ores worthy of mention in the county, are 
the magnetic of the town of Hadley, several veins of 
which vary in width from five to eight feet, occur about 
two miles southwest of the confluence of the Sacondaga 
river with the Hudson. Iron has been manufactured from 
the Porter bed of this locality of a quality as good, and 
even superior to the celebrated Arnold ores. The beds 
are above and near the Adirondack Rail road, and the 
ore can therefore be placed upon cars by means of simple 
and inexpensive mechanical arrangements, and be thus 
conveyed by rail to reducing furnaces, and thence to 
available markets. 

SILURIAN AGE. 

This age immediately succeeded the Laurentian, and 
is coextensive with it, except in mountainous districts, 
which at this age were not submerged by the Silurian 
seas. Fossil relics of these waters are abundant in the 
rocks of this period, showing the existence of marine 
animals and plants at this early date in the earth's his- 
tory. It is farther evident from these records, that 
three if not four of the earliest divisions of animals 



Hand-Book of Saratoga. 35 

were represented upon the earth at this time. Most 
naturalists now agree that radiates, mollusks, and ar- 
ticulates lived at this period, while some, among them, as 
Professor Agassis claims for it, also the vertebrates, 
while in the next age, the devonian, no new varieties 
even, were introduced. 

The rocks of the county, which remain to be described 
belong to the Lower Silurian, a subdivision of this age. 
These lie un conformably upon the Laurentian, com- 
mencing near the base of the mountain, and thence 
passing over the remainder of the county. 

Potsdam Sandstone. — These rocks lie unconformably 
upon those of the Laurentian age. The lowest stratum 
is composed of water-worn pebbles of different sizes, held 
together by a siliceous cement so strong that the pebbles 
will often break under the hammer before the cement 
yields. As the strata are repeated the pebbles disappear, 
and rocks composed of flue grains of silicates firmly ce- 
mented together appear instead. These strata often 
occur in thin layers which are easily quarried in pieces 
of any desirable length and breadth. Such of the layers 
as have been formed under shallow and quiet water, often 
contain beautiful ripple marks. 

In different parts of the state of New York, fossils ap- 
pear in most, if not all of the Potsdam strata ; but in 
this county they are only found in the upper layers of 
the formation, and more particularly those which lie 
next to the Calciferous rocks. 

Until quite recently these rocks were called the paleo- 
zoic base, but now and for reasons, stated in the history 
of the Laurentian system, this base has been given to 



36 Hand-Book of Saratoga. 

an earlier period in the earth's history. Although 
the strata in this geological epoch are often qnite thin, 
even reduced to a few inches in thickness, yet in the 
aggregate the epoch often measures hundreds of feet. 
In different parts of this county it will sometimes pro- 
bably measure about one hundred feet in depth. Metals 
have been found in many parts of our common country 
in segregated rocks of this epoch. 

Calctferous Sand Rock. — This rock belongs to 
the Potsdam period, and the Calciferous epoch. It is 
composed of lime and silica and hence its name. When 
long exposed to the elements, the lime weathers out 
leaving behind the silica, and the rock presents a rough, 
and to the common observer, an uninteresting surface. 
The lime and silica of this formation are supposed to be 
of organic origin, and some of the animals and plants of 
this period have been preserved as fossils to the present 
time, while others, as the diatoms, and those which ce- 
creted the silicates and the lime being more delicate in 
their organizations, have been destroyed. 

Geodes frequently occur in this rock having their 
surfaces covered with crystals of quartz, while in others 
the crystals lie loosely in the cavity of the rock and rattle 
as the stone which contains the geodes, is moved. In 
these cavities, and occasionally in the body of the crys- 
tals small pieces of anthracite sometimes occur. These 
are supposed to be the earliest coal formation on the 
earth. 

Oolites are found in one of the upper strata of this 
formation, and in the town of Greenfield about three 
miles west of Saratoga Springs. Near the layer which 



Hand-Book of Saratoga. 37 

contains the oolite, if not the next above it, is that con- 
taining the stroruatopora, which in this locality lies im- 
mediately below the Trenton limestone. The formation 
within the county is not rich in fossils. The dip of 
the rock is to the southeast, and often about 45°. The 
rock in the central part of the county, has been much 
used for basements of buildings, and in the village of 
Saratoga Springs, where it abounds, one of the principal 
churches and some private residences, are built of this 
stone. 

TRENTON LIMESTONE. 

The name of Trenton was first geologically applied to 
the rocks at Trenton Falls, Oneida Co., N. Y.. where this 
formation is abundant, but still more recently the name 
has also been given to a geological period and epoch. 
The period includes the Chazy, Birdseye, Black river 
and Trenton limestones ) while the Trenton epoch con- 
tains only the Birdseye, Black river and Trenton rocks. 
In this county all the rocks of the Trenton period are 
wanting, except the Trenton formation which appears 
at three points. One a narrow strip commencing in the 
south-west part of the county and extending in a north- 
erly direction, about midway between the base of the 
Kayaderosseras mountains and the slate, to the south 
point of the Palmertown range. The second is a still 
smaller parcel which lies south of the Palmertown, while 
the third portion is situated on the south bank of the 
Hudson river, and east of the Palmertown range and 
5 



38 Hand-Book of Saratoga. 

extending easterly nearly to Baker's falls. Each of 
these parcels rests conformably upon the calciferous 
sand-rock. This rock is of a blackish color, easily 
wrought, and some of the strata have produced fair 
black marble. 

This formation is the source of the quick lime used 
in the county. It is also cut into window caps, sills, and 
water tables for most of the brick buildings in the county. 
This geological period represents an extremely active 
animal existence in the earth's history. The rocks are 
mostly composed of shells. Some strata appear to be 
formed of shells pressed together, while others are the 
product of similar organic remains first finely pulverized, 
and then pressed into deep rock strata. Both the ani- 
mal and vegetable remains of this period are marine, and 
mostly the product of clear water of the Silurian seas. 
Although the quantity of the rock belonging to this 
period is comparatively small in the county, yet as a 
geological formation, it is almost of continental extent, 
and in some localities is two or three hundred feet in 
depth. Vast must have been the amount of animal life 
which contributed to its formation. 

The stromatopora, a not very common fossil, appears 
about two miles west of Saratoga Springs. 

HUDSON RIVER PERIOD. 

The remaining rocks of the county belong to the 
Hudson river period, and are composed of the Utica and 
Hudson river slates and shales. The Utica formation is 
the older of the two, and extends along the south west- 
ern line of the county and thence to its northern boundary. 



Hand-Book of Saratoga. 39 

This formation together with those of the Hudson 
river slate, are the surface rocks of more than one-half 
of the county. The slates form the bed of the Mohawk 
river along the south line of the Hudson, from its con- 
fluence with the Mohawk to within a short distance of 
Glen's Falls, of the Kayaderosseras, from Rock City 
Falls to Saratoga lake, of Fish creek, and of Ballston, 
Rouud, and Saratoga lakes. It is the rock which immedi- 
ately underlies nearly all of the sand plains of the county. 
The rocks are nearly black in color, and lie horizontally, 
except along the high land between the Hudson and Sa- 
ratoga lake, and a few other places, where it appears at 
all angles. It is never used for any available purpose. 

SNAKE HILL. 

Geologists are not quite clear where this formation 
belongs. There has not been a sufficient quantity of the 
fossils procured to settle beyond a doubt its lithological 
position. Most of those which have been obtained, how- 
ever, clearly belong to the Trenton period. The whole 
uplift between the lake and the river, appears to be a 
series of slates, shales, and sandstones alternating with 
each other, some of which as at the north end, have 
been greatly disturbed since their formation. 

DRIFT FORMATIONS. 

The pebbles, gravel, sand, and fine dust, the debris of 
earlier rocks are not without their lessons of interest and 
instruction. River terraces which lie along the banks 
of our larger streams, are composed of fine particles of 



40 Hand-Book op Saratoga. 

sand and gravel, assorted by the currents of the several 
streams upon which they lie, and then laid down in dis- 
tinct laminae or strata. Four distinct terraces rising 
one above the other, with their flattened summits spread- 
ing out toward the mountain base, may be seen border- 
ing the Hudson river. These terraces are particularly 
observable, as one enters the county on the rail road 
from the south, and continues north to the village of 
Saratoga Springs. The bottom strata of most of these 
terraces, is composed of pebbles, clay, and sand, called 
" hard-pan," so firmly packed together that it is often 
quite as difficult to penetrate as would be most of the 
rock strata which lie below. 

The next stratum above is Blue Clay ; the next Fer- 
ruginous Clay, and the last is composed of sand, the 
grains of which vary much in size. This upper stratum 
contains more or less vegetable mould. This mould in- 
creases in depth as the terraces approach the river. 
And so abundant is it in the " river bottoms," that the 
land is made very productive by the annual dressings 
furnished by the forests upon the mountain slopes. 

Ancient Sea Bottoms appear next above the terraces. 
The debris in these formations contain no pebbles of 
slate or strata of clay. The drift appears in oval ridges, 
always lying in the same direction, their larger extremi- 
ties always pointing to the east, north-east, and thus 
pointing out the direction of the ocean current during 
this period. Some of these deposits do not rise more 
than three or four feet above the surface, while others 
rise more than a hundred, yet all invariably present the 
same characteristics. 



Hand-Book of Saratoga. 41 

The Sea Beaches, are next above the bottoms. They 
lie high upon the mountain ranges, and are composed of 
water worn pebbles, sand and gravel. These often from 
long exposure to surface currents of water which annually 
pass over them, nearly or quite at right angles, are 
finally cut into sections, and hence the festooned appear- 
ance about the brow of the mountains. Some of these 
sections are even a hundred feet iu depth. 

Ancient Drift. Above the sea beaches and over the 
tops of the mountain peaks may be seen the Ancient drift. 
The pebbles of this formation are from the Laurentian 
and Potsdam periods, as well as the sand and gravel in 
which they lie imbedded. After leaving the sea-bottoms, 
the deposits above on the mountain slopes on more or less 
assorted, but they seldom if ever show any stratification. 
The currents in the ocean at the time the ocean bottoms 
were formed, were precisely in the same direction as the 
currents which moved forward the ancient glaciers, and 
which polished acres of the old rocks and cut in them 
those deep and long parallel scratches, which are now to 
be seen traversing the rocks of the Potsdam period. 

MINERAL FOUNTAINS. 

All mineral springs derive their properties from the 
rocks over which they flow, or through which they per- 
colate, during their subterranean course, and before they 
reappear upon the surface in the form of springs. The 
surface water which falls upon the eastern slope of the 
Kayaderosseras range, flows over the exposed edges of tho 
Silurian rocks, and freely penetrates through them all 



42 Hand-Book of Saratoga. 

down to the Laurentian formation. When some of the 
outcropping edges of the Silurian rocks, are from one to 
two and even three hundred feet above the rocks from 
which the fountains rise, a great hydrostatic pressure 
must result, by which the water is forced through the 
deep salt bearing rocks, and then raised to the surface 
along the mineral valley. These subterranean currents 
on reaching the base of the mountain, come in contact 
with a " fault " and rise through it to the surface. This 
fault is a fracture in the earth's crust, which penetrates 
several geological epochs. It is not merely a simple 
fracture passing deep into the earth's surface, but the 
rocks on the west side of the fault, are hundreds of feet 
above the corresponding ones upon the east side. This 
displacement also serves to prevent the free flow past 
the fault, for the Hudson river slates being opposed to 
the Lower Silurian rocks form a most perfect barrier, 
and the mineral water is forced up through the crevice 
in the rocks by hydrostatic pressure. 

The minerals of the several fountains are probably de- 
rived from the rocks of the Potsdam period, for the 
water of the surface as well as in the rocks below flow 
from the west, and the mineral water comes from the 
west of the fault, where great displacements have taken 
place in the rocks, as at Saratoga Springs. These rocks 
were formed under the Silurian seas as is evident from 
the fossil relics which they contain. They being very 
porous, are capable of holding large quantities of saline 
substances, which are gradually brought out by the sur- 
face water which is forced through them, and hence the 
uniform flow of mineral water through our valley. 



a 2 




< O 



Hand-Book of Saratoga. 43 



CARBONIC ACID. 

Different kinds of rocks produce different gases, and 
the same general fomiatioD sometimes originates different 
gases at different depths in the rock. In boring for 
water in the city of Albany, at the depth of thirty feet 
sulphuretted hydrogen was developed, at the depth of 
two hundred and fifty feet carburetted hydrogen, while 
at the depth of four hundred and eighty feet below the 
surface carbonic acid and saline water were also found. 
Here in the same geological epoch three different gases 
were found in the same perforation. The same results 
have been obtained the present season near Round lake 
in this county. 

Carbonic acid and saline water have been spontane- 
ously flowing up through the same formation for ages at 
Ballston, Ellis Mills, Quaker Springs, Wilton and 
Argyle, in Washington County ; but the Potsdam and 
Trenton periods are not far below the slate in these places. 
The same kind of carbonated waters rise also at Sara- 
toga Springs from the Potsdam period. And as the 
fountains of this place have been found superior to all 
the springs of the kind, it is probably fair to conclude 
that all the mineral properties, both of salts and gases, 
are derived from the old Silurian rocks. It is also 
true that clay-beds lying upon the Silurian rocks near, 
and also miles back towards the mountains from the 
mineral fountains are all highly charged with carbonic 
acid, but such of them as lie upon the Laurentian rocks, 
give no evidence of carbonic acid. It would therefore 



44 Hand-Book of Saratoga. 

appear that all the mineral constituents are derived 
from the Silurian rocks, and even the older members of 
this system. 

HIGH ROCK SPRING. 

The High Rock Spring is justly considered one of the 
greatest natural curiosities in the world. It was known, 
and was used medicinally by the aborigines. Dr. John 
H. Steel gave the first scientific description of the rock, 
and it was published in Silliinan's Journal, pp. 242, 246. 
Dr. Valentine Seaman in 1809,* also published a de- 
scription of the spring ; and in the course of his remarks, 
he says : " The more we reflect upon it, the more we 
must be convinced of the important place this rock ought 
to hold among the wonderful works of nature. Had it 
stood on the borders of the Logo d'Agnans, the noted 
Grotto del Cani, which, since the peculiar proprieties of 
carbonic acid have been known, burdens almost every 
book which treats upon the gas, would never have been 
heard of beyond the environs of Naples ; while this foun- 
tain, in its place, would have been deservedly celebrated 
in story, and spread upon canvas, to the admiration of 
the world, as one of the greatest curiosities. " 

The following measurement of High Rock was care- 
fully made in 1856 : 
At the surface of the ground, the circumference 

of the High Rock is 24 feet 4 inches. 

Diameter of aperture, four inches below the top 12 " 

Height of the rock above the ground 3 " 6 M 

Water in the rock above the grouud 1 " 4 " 

Depth of the spring fioni the top of the rock. .. 10 " " 
From the top of the rock to the water within. . 2 " 2 " 

* The first edition of Dr. Seaman's work was published in 1793. 




X 



Hand-Book of Saratoga. 49 

The walls of the rock are of nearly uniform thickness 
throughout. This gives a pyramid of "water within the rock, 
not dissimilar in form to its external surface. See Plate. 

Water under the pressure of the atmosphere holds its 
own volume of carbonic acid gas in solution ; more 
volumes of the gas may be dissolved in water by pres- 
sure alone. The mineral waters of Saratoga, at the tem- 
perature of 212° disengage one and a half volumes of 
carbonic acid. The mineral substances held in solution 
in the springs by this gas, are magnesia, lime and iron ; 
these substances, together with a few other materials 
from the surroundings of the fountains, as leaves and 
twigs of trees, &c, compose the High Rock. This is 
not an isolated instance of this kind of formation at 
Saratoga, for deposits more or less extensive may be 
found about the apertures of other springs. This highly 
charged water, on rising to the atmosphere, can hold but 
one volume of the gas in solution ; it, therefore, precipi- 
tates its excess of carbonates about the orifice of the 
fountain in small particles at a time, and if these precipi- 
tates are suffered to rest and to accumulate, they will in 
time unite with each other, and a rock of calcareous tufa 
of greater or less size is the result. The Flat Rock 
being covered by the soil has not been so frequently 
seen, yet quite a large amount of this deposit has been 
thrown down at this place.* About the mouth of the 
Empire Spring was also a deposit of tufa, in the form, 
and about the size of an inverted two quart bowl, having 
in its top a perforation of about two inches in diameter, 
and of an oval form. From the nature of the case these 
* The eame is the case about the High Rock and Range springs. 
6 



50 < Hand-Book of Saratoga. 

deposits must always be going on ; but currents of water 
may move them away mechanically, before they have a 
period of repose long enough to accumulate and become 
cemented together, as was the case with the original 
Congress Spring. The position of the rock, out of the 
side of which it flowed, and the shape of the surface of 
the ground, together with its rapid descent to the brook 
which runs near, prevented any accumulation of tufa at 
this spring. 

It will be seen then, that the High Rock is not sui 
generis, as some may have supposed; but it nevertheless, 
so far as is known, is the great specimen of its kind. It 
stands high above the ground, is accessible, but yet it 
is probable, that but few comparatively who view it, 
realize the fact, that the specimen before them is perhaps 
the most remarkable of its kind upon the whole face of 
the earth. 

And in this connection may I be permitted to urge 
upon the inhabitants of the village, as well as strangers, 
sacredly to abstain from marring, defacing, or removing 
a single atom of the stone. For be it remembered, as a 
specimen, it belongs to the world, and every person is in 
duty bound to protect it. 

This water, as we have elsewhere said, continued to 
be used by the inhabitants, until the discovery of the 
Congress Spring, in the year 1792, which, as it proved 
to be less stimulating, was better adapted to the majority 
of cases, though the water of the High Rock has always 
been uniform in quality, and is one of our best tonics. 
This spring is a little remote from the large hotels of 
the place, and is not therefore so much used as it ought 



Hand-Book of Saratoga. 51 

to be, by debilitated patients. It is situated in the 
north part of the valley, a short distance from the Star 
and Empire Springs. The land rises rapidly in its rear, 
to the height of thirty or forty feet, the grounds about 
the springs are unimproved. And it is a sad mistake, 
that the original forest-trees had not been left standing, 
so that this great specimen might be seen as nearly as 
possible, in its primitive state ! * 

In the year 1767, the Indians introduced the waters 
of the High Hock Spring to the whites, as a remedial 
agent. During the quarter of a century which imme- 
diately followed Sir William Johnson's visit to the 
springs, but a few improvements were made, and these 
were limited to the immediate vicinity of the High 
Rock; and the knowledge of the country which the 
whites possessed, was also confined to such portions of 
it, as lay along the trails which led from the settlements 
on the river and the lake to the mineral fountain. Yet 
the spring continued to attract more and more attention. 
Persons traveling from one section of the country to 
another, if practicable, took the mineral fountain in their 
way, drank the water, and amused themselves in hunting 
in the surrounding forests."!" 



* Since the publication of this work a tasteful brick building was erected 
over the spring, by the late W. B. White, Esq. 

t While this edition is going through the press Messrs. Ainsworth and 
McCaffrey, who have recently purchased this Spring, are making great 
changes in it, by taking down the Octagon building placed over the Spring 
by the late W. B. White, Esq., for protecting the Tufa rock which has 
given a world wide reputation to the fountain ; cut off this rock a few 
inches below the surface of the ground; excavated a liberal shaft down to 
the calciferous sand-rock ; secured its Mineral water in the usual way by a 
wooden tube packed about with clay ; and finally have placed the upper 



52 Hand-Book of Saratoga. 

congress spring. 

In the year 1792, or twenty-five years after the visit 
of Johnson to the springs, a party had been on a hunt- 
ing excursion in a southerly direction from the High 
Rock, and when returning to the settlement, entered 
upon a trail which led them to a new spring. At that 
time the water flowed from an aperture in a rock, which 
was a part of the general ledge which extended from the 
Columbian Spring to the High Rock. The direction of 
this ledge was nearly east, for about two hundred feet 
from the Columbian Spring, and at this point the ledge 
took a more northerly direction ; this change in its 
course gave a prominence to the portion of the rock 
situated at the angle, and this was the point from which 
issued the original Congress Spring. This rock was 
about three feet high, and the aperture through which 
the water flowed was about eighteen inches from the 
ground, and the water trickled over the side of the rock, 
which lay within a few feet of the brook, and soon 
mingled with the stream, and passed away through the 
valley. One of this hunting party was John Taylor 
Grilman, who was at the time a member of Congress. 
On testing the water they were particularly pleased with 
its quality ; and after repeated visits to the spring, in 

portion of the Tufa rock over the top of its wooden tube in the hope that 
the water may hereafter flow over the rock as it doubtless did during its 
early history. What success will follow these changes time must determine. 
Dnring the late excavation three forest trees-were found deeply imbedded 
in the Tufa rock, and curbing a triangular space about the month of the 
fountain. These trees checked the flow of mineral water, caused a deposit 
of the earthy carbonates, and finally produced the High Rock. 



Hand-Book of Saratoga. 55 

company with the most prominent men of the settlement, 
they in counsel, named it Congress Spring; thereby 
handing it over to the people of this commonwealth, 
who have ever since enjoyed its benefits. 

The water rapidly rose in reputation, and soon became 
the favorite spring. It was secured by pressing a drink- 
ing vessel against the rock ; of course in this way it took 
a long time to obtain small quantities of the water, for 
it discharged only about one quart per minute, and a 
large portion of this was necessarily lost, but all agreed 
as to the quality of the water. About this time Gideon 
Putnam's far-seeing eye discovered, in part, the future 
importance of the spring; and he immediately made 
purchases of land in its vicinity, and began his improve- 
ments. As the accommodations for strangers improved, 
the demand for the water increased beyond the supply 
furnished by the spring. 

To obviate this deficiency, Putnam turned tile brook 
a few feet to the north of its original channel, and being 
directed by bubbles of gas which were constantly rising- 
through the empty channel, he sunk a shaft to the rock, 
when the water ceased to flow from the original aperture, 
but rose in abundance from the old channel, and was 
secured in a tube made of pine planks. After filling in 
about the tube, the water continued to rise and the supply 
has ever since been inexhaustible. At one time Putnam 
had two potash kettles evaporating the mineral water. 
The salts thus precipitated they sold in small packages, 
which during some years amounted to several hundred 
dollars. But it was soon found that these precipitated * 

*SeQ2X>st. 



56 Hand-Book of Saratoga. 

salts did not produce Congress water when redissolved, 
and the further evaporation was abandoned. 

In 1826, John Clarke, a native of Yorkshire, England, 
purchased from the Livingstons the farm on which the 
Congress Spring is situated. Mr. Clarke was well cal- 
culated, by education and experience, to take charge of 
the spring, being well acquainted with the properties of 
acidulous drinks, he having opened the first soda fountain 
in the city of New York. Soon after Clarke's purchase 
of the spring, he began bottling the water for exporta- 
tion, and so well did he do this that he very soon realized 
a handsome annual income from this source alone. Mr. 
Clarke extended his purchases of real estate from time 
to time, so that at the period of his death, he owned in 
lands, contiguous to the spring, about one thousand 
acres. His improvements were always of the best kind, 
as may be illustrated by the beautiful crescent lawn, 
which "he reclaimed from the deep mud swamp, which 
lay south and east of the spring. The classic Doric 
structure, as it originally stood in its simple beauty, 
over the Congress Spring, and the pretty Grecian dome 
over the Columbian Spring, are but incidental speci- 
mens of the many improvements, which his large means, 
generous spirit, and good taste bestowed upon the village. 

Mr. Clarke's nurse outlived him some years ; he did 
not forget her while he lived, and left her a handsome 
annuity as long as she shtmld survive. He married 
Mrs. Eliza Bryer, widow of the late Charles White, 
Esq., of the firm of Emmet & Co., attorneys and counsel- 
lors-at-law, New York city. He died on the 6th of May, 
1846, aged seventy-three years. 



Hand-Book of Saratoga. 57 

The Congress water continues to sustain its high repu- 
tation, and is resorted to by tens of thousands during the 
summer season, some of whom have paid their annual 
visits to the springs for forty-five consecutive years. It 
is a cathartic water, and should be used in the morning 
for that purpose. It has also been employed in cases of 
renal calculi, with decidedly beneficial effects. 

The analysis of the water gives the following ingre- 
dients in one gallon : 

Chloride of Sodium 360.560 

Carbonate of Soda 8.000 

Carbonate of Lime 82.321 

Carbonate of Magnesia 78.242 

Carbonate of Iron 3.645 

Iodide of Soda 4.531 

Silica 0.510 

Alumina 0.231 

Solid Contents 538.040 

Carbonic Acid 340.231 

Atmospheric Air ,., 4.000 

Gaseous Contents 644.231 

Temperature of the spring, 48 degrees. 



COLUMBIAN SPRING. 

This fountain is situated a few rods southwest of the 
Congress Spring. It is a ferruginous water, and con- 
tains large quantities of carbonic acid in a free state, 
which rises from the surface of the water in very large 
bubbles, causing a motion in the spring not very dissimi- 
lar to boiling water. The carbonic acid maybe collected 
at the mouth of the spring, to any extent desirable for 
scientific purposes, and at any time. 



58 Hand-Book of Saratoga. 

This fountain contains the same constituent proper- 
ties as the Congress, but differing very much in their 
relative quantity. Its water is very tonic, and should 
be used with great caution where this kind of medicine 
is not decidedly indicated ; but where it is so indicated, 
the large quantities of free gas, together with the iron 
present in it, render it a tonic of great value in many 
cases of irritable stomach, and weak digestive and as- 
similating organs. But its activity makes it important 
that it be used carefully, and subject to proper restric- 
tions. 

One gallon of the water furnishes on an analysis the 
following ingredients : 



Chloride of Sodium 290.501 

Carbonate of Soda 26.000 

Carbonate of Magnesia 40.321 

Carbonate of Lime 90.000 

Carbonate of Iron 6.000 

Iodide of Soda 3.000 

Silica and Alumina 1.531 

Solid Contents 457.353 

Carbonic Acid - - 330.000 

Temperature of the spring, is 48 degrees. 



HAMILTON SPRING. 

This fountain, situated in the rear of Congress Hall, 
a few rods northeast of Congress Spring, was first dis- 
covered and tubed by Grideon Putnam, Esq., and after- 
ward retubed and brought to its present condition by 
Dr. Clarke. For the lasb twenty or thirty years it has 



Hand-Book of Saratoga. 59 

been most used as an alterative; for this purpose it was 
a favorite spring of the late Dr. Steel — and also as a 
cathartic for very feeble stomachs ; and where the Con- 
gress has proved too active and exhausting, even in 
small doses, this water will succeed like a charm. As a 
diuretic, in many nephritic diseases, its use has been 
attended with the most happy results. The water with- 
in the tube rises nearly to a level with the ground, and 
the surface of the water is constantly agitated by a free 
escape of fixed air, rising in alternate bubbles from the 
interior of the fountain. 

One gallon of the water furnishes the following ingre- 
dients on analysis : 

Grains. 

Chloride of Sodium 298.656 

Carbonate of Soda 34.250 

Carbonate of Lime 97.996 

Carbonate of Magnesia 39.066 

Carbonate of Iron 4.625 

Iodide of Soda... 3.598 

Silex and Alumina 1.000 

Solid Contents 479.191 

Carbonic Acid 320.777 

Atmospheric Air 1.461 

Gaseous Contents 322.238 

Temperature of the spring, 48 degrees. 



PAVILION FOUNTAIN. 

This truly beautiful spring is situated in the rear of 
the Columbian Hotel, and a few rods southeast of the 
late Flat Rock Spring j it was long since discovered, and 
experiments made upon the water by the late John H. 



60 Hand-Book of Saratoga. 

Steel. Its remoteness, however, from the bank, which 
gave egress to the other mineral fountains in the valley, 
placed it in the midst of a deep morass, where it rose 
through an alluvial deposit of over forty feet in depth. 
This situation of the spring made it difficult to tube it. 
But in 1839, it passed into the hands of Daniel Mc- 
Laren, who, braving all obstacles, at great expense of 
labor and time, succeeded in securing the present foun- 
tains, as well as improving the deep morass about them. 

The shaft was excavated and tubed in the following 
manner : 

A crib fifteen feet square, locked together firmly at 
the four corners, was placed around the spring. The 
work of excavation next followed, and as the swamp mud 
was thrown out, the crib was settled down, and as the 
excavation proceeded, the water was raised from the 
shaft by large pumps, kept at work day and night. In 
this way, the excavation was made to the distance of 
forty feet, following throughout the direction of the 
rising bubbles. At this depth they struck the " hard 
pan," when the gas led in a lateral direction, and 
toward the west. This lead they followed for several 
feet by cutting a trench, and then placing in it what 
they called a " shoe." The toe of this shoe occupied 
the western extremity of the trench, which was also 
several inches lower than the other end, or heel of the 
shoe. Afterward they placed a tube over the heel of 
the shoe in a perpendicular position, and raised it high 
enough to pass the surface, and such filling in as would 
render the grounds dry and pleasant about the springs. 
So the whole tube as it now is placed, more resembles 



Hand Book of Saratoga. 61 

a man's boot than a shoe. The water is pleasant to the 
taste, and exhilarating to the spirits. It was first bottled 
by McLaren, in 1840, and since the repurchase by the 
Walton family, has been bottled by them also. It is a 
favorite water for drinking at the spring, both with the 
inhabitants and strangers. 

This spring is now owned by the Messrs. Walton, who 
have farther improved the grounds about the fountain, 
by filling them in, changing the channel of the creek, 
laying out footwalks, planting shade trees, and construct- 
ing suitable buildings for bottling the water. The free 
acid of the spring is most abundant, and passes off in 
great quantities from the mouth of the fountain, and 
imparts to the tongue a smart, pungent taste. The fol 
lowing is the analysis of one gallon of the water : 

Grains. 

Chloride of Sodium, 183.814 

Carbonate of Soda, 6.000 

Carbonate of Lime, 59.593 

Carbonate of Magnesia, 58.266 

Carbonate of Iron, 4.133 

Iodide of Sodium and Bromide of Potassa, 2.566 

Silex and Alumina, 1-000 

Solid contents of one gallon, 315.372 

Gaseous contents of one gallon, 372.499 

Temperature 50 degrees. 

IODINE SPRING, NOW CALLED STAR SPRING. 

This fountain is situated in the north part of the vil- 
lage, and a few rods north-east of the High Rock. 

In 1835, my attention was particularly called to the 
President Spring, situated quite near the High Rock 

7 



62 Hand-Book of Saratoga. 

fountain. From the experiments I then made' upon the 
water of this spring, I came to the conclusion, that if 
the mineral stream supplying the fountain were properly 
secured, the water would in all probability, bottle very 
well. The conclusions I had arrived at, and the reasons 
for them being communicated to some gentlemen of the 
village, they obtained a lease of the spring from Judge 
Walton, made a liberal excavation, secured the mineral 
water by a wooden tube, and thus raised it nearly to the 
top of the ground. To this spring they gave the name 
of " Iodine." 

Since that time it has been subject to a number of 
different directors, among them as Judge Walton's heirs, 
and finally H. W. Merrill and J. L. Cramer. Though 
comparatively a light water, it proves to be well adapted 
for bottling. When taken in proper quantities and sub- 
ject to reasonable restrictions, it sets well on the 
stomach. 

One gallon of the water furnishes the following in- 
gredients, on analysis : 

Grains. 

Chloride of Sodium, 180.731 

Carbonate of Soda, 3.000 

Carbonate of Magnesia, 30.000 

Iodide of Sodium, 3.235 

Carbonate of Lime, 74.213 

Carbonate of Iron, 1.000 

Silica and Alumina, 500 

Solid contents, 292.679 

Carbonic Acid and Atmospheric Air, 335.000* 

* I have not analyzed this water since it was last tubed. 



■ :; 



W i 



§m 










"wmmm 






Hand-Book of Saratoga. 65 



EMPIRE SPRING. 

This spring is the most northerly one in the village 
which has attracted general attention. It is situated on 
the west side of the valley, and immediately behind it 
lies a bluff of Mohawk limestone, forty feet in height. 
This limestone appears to be a detached portion, and 
extends only about five rods in width by ten in length, 
and lies on a ledge of calciferous sandstone. The water 
issues through a perforation in the calciferous sandstone. 
A knowledge of this particular form of the opening is of 
great importance in adjusting a suitable tube. 

Mineral water has been known to trickle down the 
bank at this poi^t ever since the land was cleared of its 
primitive shrubs. But it attracted no particular atten- 
tion, for springs of mineral water which appeared equally 
imposing were, and are now, to be found issuing from 
many points along the mineral valley, and the prominent 
and conspicuous position which the High Kock and the 
original Congress Spring occupied turned all eyes to- 
ward them. As they furnished water of the best quality 
and in ample quantity, to supply the demand, there 
appeared to be no necessity for the introduction of a 
new spring, and the ground about the Empire Spring 
was for a long time advantageously occupied by lime- 
kilns. 

In the year 1846, the fountain was taken in charge ; 
a shaft was excavated to the rock, a tube eleven feet six 
inches was adjusted to the aperture, and the Empire 
Spring was secured with a column of water in the tube 



66 Hand-Book of Saratoga. 

above the surface of the rock nine feet six inches high. 
The fact that the Empire water passes the calciferous 
sand-rock by a perforation, is of great practical value, as 
a tube could be scribed to the surface of the rock, and 
thus was obviated the necessity of employing artificial 
means to secure the water with its full complement of 
gas. 

It will be easily apprehended that artificial means are 
scarcely available in confining, or even in directing a 
current of acidulous carbonated water, for materials 
which would be available in cases of common spring 
water are useless with the acidulous mineral water. The 
water cement answers an admirable purpose with fresh 
water, but with mineral waters is entirely insufficient, 
for it proves no barrier to the escape of # the gas, and will 
in time be taken into combination with it, and a similar 
result follows in the various kinds of packing which have 
been frequently tested by actual experiments. But, 
when the gaseous water passes ftirough a heavy stratum 
of rock by a small aperture, as in the Empire, a groove 
carefully cut in the rock around the mouth of the spring, 
and a well-secured pine tube properly placed in a groove, 
and afterward filled about with clay, is a simple and most 
efficient way to set a tube. This form of tubing, however, 
will not be applicable to those fountains which pass 
through the rocks in clefts and fissures. To illustrate 
with what extreme divisibility the carbonates are held 
in solution in water, and with what readiness they pass 
through ordinary barriers, put a pint of mineral water in 
a flaring vessel, say an ordinary baking dish, then apply 
a gentle heat until the whole salts are precipitated ; the 



Hand-Book of Saratoga. 67 

outside of the vessel as high as the water stood will be 
frosted over with the precipitated carbonates which had 
been held in solution in the water by the gas, and not by 
the water. In this case the salts are precipitated, 
although the dish is flaring and uncovered, yet the 
carbonates pass through the pores of the glazing as well 
as through the sides of the vessel, and that too in a 
lateral direction. 

This mineral fountain discharges seventy-five gallons 
per hour. It is a good cathartic and alterative water, 
and has proved itself adapted to a wide range of cases. 
And when we consider its remote situation, the popu- 
larity of other and older springs, the strong attachments 
which persons form by the habit of drinking of them, 
and their corresponding prejudices, we are surprised at 
the rapid stride this spring has made in public estimation 
during the short period of six or eight years. 

For cathartic purposes, the Congress and Empire 
waters should be drank in the morning in quantities 
varying from one pint to three, according to the state of 
the case. As an alterative, from one-fourth to a whole 
tumbler should be taken three or four times a day. 

The chalybeate waters may be taken in portions 
ranging from one gill to a pint, three or four times a 
day. 

The cathartic effects of the Empire and Congress 
waters are increased by raising the temperature of the 
water 20° or 30°. If this is done by placing the bottle 
in warm water before drinking, the cork should be with- 
drawn ; because the increased cathartic power is owing 
to the escape of carbonic acid. This water, when bot- 



68 



Hand-Book of Saratoga. 



tied, should be kept as near to 48° Fahrenheit, as pos- 
sible; and the bottle should be taken from the box and 
put in a refrigerator ten or twelve hours before using, 
which brings it to much the same temperature as when 
drunk fresh from the fountain. 

The improvements in the north end of the town have 
been much increased within a few years, and particu- 
larly those in the immediate vicinity of the Empire 
Spring. Reducing the unwholesome swamp, opening 
new drive-ways, grading hills and laying out handsome 
village lots, are a few of the many heavy expenditures 
which have been sustained by Western & Co. alone. 
Neither have they been behind their fellow-citizens gen- 
erally, in the cultivation of large numbers of shade trees, 
which in time will add greatly to the beauty of their 
grounds and avenues. And it is to be hoped that these 
improvements may be continued by themselves and 
others, with even increased energy. Nature has done 
much in that part of the town, and its beauty might be 
enhanced at small expense. If the hill on the west side 
of the valley were properly terraced, and willow and 
other appropriate trees were planted along the stream, 
we should have delightful promenades, and as fine situa- 
tions for residences as are to be found in town. And 
these improvements might be carried on with an outlay 
by no means large. 

This fountain is now under the charge of a company. 

One gallon of the Empire water furnishes the follow- 
ing ingredients on analysis : 



Hand-Book of Saratoga. 69 

Chloride of Sodium, 270.000 

Carbonate of Lime, 145.321 

Carbonate of Magnesia, 43.123 

Carbonate of Soda, 30.304 

Iodide of Soda, 8.000 

Carbonate of Iron, 3.000 

Silica, 1.000 

Solid contents, 500.74S 

Gaseous contents, 700 

Specific gravity, 1.056 

WASHINGTON, OR WHITE SPRING. 

This fountain is situated about six hundred feet in a 
southwesterly direction from the Congress Spring, and 
is the only one on the west side of Broadway, the prin- 
cipal street of the village. 

It was first tubed by Gideon Putnam, in the year 1806, 
and has the singular history of being the first spring 
tubed in this section of the Mineral Valley, and the last 
one which has been practically reclaimed and prepared 
for commercial use.* And although the land on which 
it was first discovered has been owned by many different 
individuals since the first settlement of the country, some 
of whom have been among our most far-seeing and enter- 
prising citizens, yet no thorough effort was made to 
secure the spring until October, 1858. 

In the year 1856, the ground including the spring, 
passed into the possession of John H. White, Esq., who, 
during the autumn of 1858, resolved to make a thorough 
excavation, and trace, if possible, the mineral stream to 
its escape from the rock. He therefore, on the 20th of 
October, opened a shaft eleven feet square, which he 

* Since 1S5S, several other springs have been practicably brought into use. 



70 Hand-Book of Saratoga. 

excavated to the depth of thirty feet, through clay and 
hard-pan, to the calciferous sand-rock underneath. 

After carefully examining the surface of the rock 
within the shaft, he ascertained that no mineral water 
came into the well through it, but entered from the 
south-west part of the excavation through the stratum of 
hard-pan which lies superimposed upon the sand-rock at 
this place. This lead was then taken, and followed with 
a tunnel six feet high, five wide, and thirty in length, in 
a direction generally south-east. At this point, and 
while exploring with an iron rod the farther direction of 
the stream, the earth at the south-east extremity of the 
tunnel suddenly gave way, and the water and the gas 
flowed into the shaft with such force, and in such quan- 
tities, as to give the men engaged in the work of exca- 
vation barely time to escape from the pit, leaving their 
working tools behind them at the bottom of the shaft ; 
and in the short space of fifteen minutes it was estimated 
that twelve thousand gallons of water, and probably 
nearly twice that quantity of carbonic acid gas, filled the 
excavation. At this juncture the most powerful hand- 
pumps which could be commanded were brought to bear 
upon the water, and the gas within the excavation; but 
they failed to clear the shaft, and the work of excavation 
was therefore suspended for the ensuing three weeks, 
during which time a portable steam engine and a power- 
ful rotary pump were procured, and an excavation was 
commenced in a south-east direction thirty feet from the 
former one, and over the extreme terminus of the tun- 
nel. This shaft was fourteen feet square, and was exca- 



Hand-Book of Saratoga. 71 

vated to the depth of twenty-one feet, and preserved 
from caving by a coffer darn, built with eight-by-ten-inch 
hemlock timbers and two inch planks. But reaching the 
farther depth of four feet, which was not curbed, the 
water and the gas broke into the shaft from the east, and 
again drove the workmen from their labors. 

The steam pump was now brought into requisition, and 
was continued in active operation for eighteen consecu- 
tive hours, when a small pebble was carried in between 
the rollers of the pump, which stopped the machine, and 
before it could be removed, the pressure resulting from 
the accumulated water and gas, had become so great 
from without, that the strong timbers and plank com- 
posing the curb, gave way, and the workmen were driven 
a second time from this shaft, and the prosecution of the 
work at this spot was abandoned ) but the excavation of 
a third shaft, twenty feet in diameter, was commenced in 
a south-east direction from the second shaft. But instead 
of the tubing which had been before used, one was em- 
ployed composed of two-by-ten inch plank, cut in beveled 
segments, so as to form a curb nearly circular. These 
pieces of plank were laid one above another, so as effect- 
ually to break joints, and then nailed firmly together 
with six inch iron spikes, which formed, when completed, 
a strong tube of wood ten inches in thickness, and twenty 
feet in diameter. This strong curb was continued with 
the excavation twenty-eight feet, and nearly to the sand 
rock in the bottom of the shaft. 

The bottom of the shaft being covered with water, one 
spring was seen bubbling up within the shaft, and another 



72 Hand-Book of Saratoga. 

was found after tunneling a few feet to the south-west. 
These springs seemed to be two fountains, issuing from the 
same fissure in the rock, within the distance of twenty 
feet. The more south-west fountain proved most copious, 
and presented a finer appearance; as the loose gravel 
was removed, a volume of water, one inch wide and six 
inches long, came gushing up out of the rock, sparkling 
and boiling with gas. 

On the 29th of January, 1859, a tube twenty-five feet 
in height was placed around this jet of mineral water, 
and on the 2d of February, the mineral water was intro- 
duced into the tube, and two days after, it had risen to 
the waste pipe, twenty-three feet and six inches above 
the bottom of the shaft. 

On the morning of the 5th of February, the gas 
appeared bubbling through the surface of the water in 
the tube, which continued to increase in quantity for 
several days, imparting a very active simmering and boil- 
ing motion to the water. On the 14th of February, the 
waste pipe was closed, and in about four hours thereafter, 
the water within the tube rose to the top of it, and now 
flows over it in a continuous stream. 

This spring, so sparkling and lively, is one of the 
most beautiful and copious fountains in the valley. And 
if the mineral water is well secured at the rock, thor- 
oughly excluding fresh water, earthy and mineral sub- 
stances from the fountain, there can scarcely remain a 
doubt of its being ultimately bottled with success. 



Hand-Book of Saratoga. 73 



This spring is situated about two hundred yards north- 
west of the Hamilton Spring, and nearly equi-distant 
from Broadway and Putnam streets. At this point, 
mineral water had been observed from quite an early 
date in the history of the village ; but it had received 
no particular attention until 1835, when Mr. Lewis Put- 
nam made an excavation, and placed a tube about the 
fountain. „ 

This improvement seemed to answer a tolerably good 
purpose for a number of years, during which time the 
water was bottled to some extent, and was also freely 
used at the fountain by persons living in its immediate 
vicinity. But at length the water was found to be 
deteriorating in quality, whereupon Mr. Putnam, in 
1857, re-excavated the shaft, and found the water rising 
freely outside the tube, and a heavy incrustation of cal- 
careous tufa surrounding the curb. He repacked the tube 
with clay, and the water is now probably as good as it 
has been at any previous time in its history. 

From the facts already known in regard to the mine- 
ral fountains, it is fair to conclude, that the quality of 
the water would be greatly improved, indeed, perfected 
by excavating the hard-pan to the calciferous sandstone, 
and tubing the mineral water down to the point of its 
escape from the fissure in the rock. Until this is done, 
we cannot speak specifically of the true character of the 
water. 



74 Hand-Book of Saratoga. 



BARREL SPRING. 

This fountain, is about seventy-five feet south of the 
High Rock Spring, and rises at the base of a high and 
abrupt bluff of calciferous sand-rock 

In the early history of the country, this mineral spring 
was known, and a barrel was used for the curbing, hence 
its name. But as the ground about the fountain was 
wet and mirey, and there were more accessible springs 
in" the immediate vicinity, this one was suffered to pass 
out of notice, and became so completely submerged, that 
comparatively few of the later inhabitants of the village, 
ever knew that such a fountain existed. 

In 1860, the lot of ground which contains this spring 
was purchased by Dr. Haskins of this place, and on the 
15th of November, 1865, he began the work of excava- 
tion, employing thirty men. And in two months and a 
half a shaft twenty by thirty feet was excavated through 
five feet of muck, four of tufa, twenty-one of blue clay, 
and four of hard-pan down to the calciferous sand rock. 
The tufa about this spring, is abundant and coextensive 
with that of the High Rock. It is doubtless the largest 
deposit of this substance in the valley. 

In the process of excavation a birch tree, eighteen 
inches in diameter, thirty feet long, with portions of the 
roots attached, was found imbedded in the calcareous de- 
posit so abundant about the fountain. The copious cur- 
rent of mineral water rising through*the different strata 
superimposed upon the sand-rock, was limited to a space 



Hand-Book of Saratoga. 75 

about two feet in diameter. Through the whole depth of 
this space the smaller portions of sand and gravel had been 
carried away by the rising currents, and only the coarser 
ones remained, which clearly pointed out to the work- 
men the mineral stream. This space was about two feet 
in diameter. 

The aperture in the sand-rock through which the 
fountain rises, is oval in form, about twelve inches in 
length, and from five to six wide. Through this aper- 
ture an iron rod was passed to the depth of fourteen feet. 
This space was also filled with small pebbles. The great 
flow of water was found troublesome during the excavation 
of the shaft. Horse power and buckets which raised eighty 
gallons per minute were sufficient to keep the shaft clear 
from water until the depth of seventeen feet was reached, 
when it was found necessary to add a steam pump of 
eight horse power. These kept the water clear until the 
farther depth of eight feet was attained, when it was 
found necessary to add to all, hand pumps. All these 
together only kept the water sufficiently down to enable 
the laborers to proceed with the work of excavation. 
The tubing is in the usual form, a hopper at the bottom 
six feet by five, connected with a wooden tube twelve 
inches square and twenty-nine in length, except that to 
the upper end of the wooden tube, is added one of glass 
three feet long, making the whole column of mineral 
water within the tube, thirty-seven feet. This added to 
that within the rock measured by the iron rod, makes a 
column of mineral water fifty-one feet in height. As 
the water rises in the glass part of the tube, globules of 



76 Hand-Book of Saratoga. 

gas may be seen also rising "in rapid succession through 
the column of water, looking like flakes of silver. The 
abundant flow of water, the large quantity of carbonic 
acid which rises from the fountain, and the height above 
the surface to which it flows, renders this one of the 
most attractive springs in the valley. 



SARATOGA SPRING. 

This fountain is situated a few rods north of the high- 
way, leading from the upper village to the " Ten 
Springs." It also rises from the west side of the mineral 
valley, a*id at the foot of a high bluff of calciferous sand 
rock. This spring has been known since the early 
history of the country, but no attempts have been made 
to reclaim it until the autumn of 1865, when George 
Western & Co. purchased the land upon which it rises, 
excavated a shaft twelve feet square and sixteen deep, 
through muck, blue clay, and hard-pan. The mineral 
water was then secured by the usual hopper shaped tube, 
packed around with clay. But imperfections existed in 
the tube, and fresh water flowed into the spring. It 
was therefore necessary to retube it, which was done in 
March, 1866. This last tubing seems to satisfy the pro- 
prietors, who are now bottling the water, and exporting 
it in considerable quantities. 



Hand-Book of Saratoga. 77 



EXCELSIOR ROCK SPRING. 

This fountain is one of ten mineral springs, situated 
about one. mile east of Broadway, and on the farm of the 
late Henry Lawrence, Esqr., of Philadelphia. 

Several of these springs, and the Excelsior among the 
number, were indifferently tubed by the Brothers Taylor 
at an early day in the history of Saratoga, These tubes 
being imperfectly set, fresh water continued to miugle 
with the mineral, and the efforts made for reclaiming 
the fountains, were therefore unsuccessful. Similar 
attempts were afterwards made to reclaim the Excelsior 
Spring, and with corresponding results. But in 1859, 
Mr. Lawrence excavated a shaft ten feet in diameter and 
fifty-six feet deep, through loam, clay, hard-pan, and slate 
down to the Trenton limerock, when the mineral water 
from five different points, flowed into the well. Six 
feet above the bottom of the shaft, a platform made of 
matched plank was thrown across the shaft, and sup- 
ported upon a ledge, two feet wide, cut into the sides 
of the shaft. Through the centre of this platform an 
opening thirty inches square was made, over which was 
placed a tube forty-six feet in length. The shaft above 
the platform was filled with clay, carefully packed about 
the tube. The tubing being completed, the mineral 
water rose within the curb and flowed over its top. Mr 
Lawrence also built a simple, but neat structure over 
the spring, and opened a carriage way leading from it 
to the public highway. The water of the fountain is 
abundant and well charged with mineral substances. It 



78 Hand-Book of Saratoga. 

bottles without sediment and is rapidly gaining public 
favor. One gallon gave the following ingredients : 

Grains. 

Chloride of Sodium, 370.642 

Carbonate of Lime, 77.000 

Carbonate of Magnesia, 32.333 

Carbonate of Soda, . , 15.000 

Silicate of Potassa, 7.000 

Carbonate of Iron, 3.215 

Sulphate of Soda, 1.321 

Silicate of Soda, 4.000 

Iodide of Soda, ... 4.235 

Bromide of Potassa, 

Sulphate of Strontia, 

Solid contents, 514.746 

Carbonic Acid, 250.000 

Atmosphere, 3.000 

Gaseous contents, 253.000 



EUREKA SPRING. 

This fountain is situated about one mile and a half 
east of Broadway. Its surroundings are not surpassed 
in beauty by any other portions of the mineral valley. 
The gorge is wide and varied in its outlines, while bluffs 
of modified drift rise more than a hundred feet upon 
either side of the deep ravine. Spring brook is here 
increased in width with a free current flowing around the 
jutting points of the different slopes of drift, which are 
dotted with forest trees and shrubs. These natural 
beauties added to the mineral spring rising from the 
south bank of the stream, make it one of the most at- 
tractive places about Saratoga. 



Hand-Book op Saratoga. 79 

If the owner will take advantage of these natural 
beauties, arrange pleasant walks and good carriage ways 
from the Ten Springs and lake Avenue, he may make 
this spot to Saratoga, what the Central park is to New 
York city. 

One gallon of this water furnishes 



Grains. 

Chloride of Sodium, 95.321 

Carbonate of Soda, 5.000 

Carbonate of Lime, 23.612 

Carbonate of Magnesia, 19.560 

Carbonate of Iron, 3.000 

Iodide of Soda, 2.000 

Bromide of Potassa, 0.342 

Silica, 0.361 

Alumina, 0.180 

Strontia a trace,." 

Sulphate Magnesia, 1.231 

150.607 

Carbonic Acid 105.000 

Atmospheric Air, .• 1.000 

Gaseous contents, 106.000 



REED S SPRING. 

This mineral fountain is situated in South Argyle, in 
the county of Washington, and is in the most easterly 
group of the mineral range. 

It is an acidulous carbonated water, and rises through 
a fissure in a stratum of limestone. 

The gas rises from the bottom of the shaft in occa- 
sional bubbles; but the water is not highly charged 



80 Hand-Book of Saratoga. 

with it ; nor has the spring the lively and sparkling 
appearance, which is so striking a feature in the Sara- 
toga fountains. 

The slight acidulousness of the water, imparts to it a 
pleasant taste, and makes it a grateful beverage. 

When the water is mixed with flour, it acts as yeast, 
making it light and spongy, and is therefore sometimes 
used in baking what are called " spring-water rolls," and 
is also employed by persons residing near it, for medici- 
nal purposes. This is also the case with the Saratoga 
Springs. 



WHITE SULPHUR SPRING. 

This spring is situated on the east side of Saratoga 
lake, about half a mile south of Snake hill, in a beau- 
tiful ravine of a few rods in width, through the centre of 
which runs a small stream, supplied by fresh water 
springs issuing from either bank. Within twenty rods 
of the lake, a niche is formed in the south bank. Near 
the centre of the niche, and at the base of the bluff, rises 
the Sulphur Spring, and its course to the brook is 
marked by a deposit of sulphur. The water is strongly 
charged with sulphuretted hydrogen gas, and is very 
pellucid. Its taste, like other waters of the class, is 
very offensive to those unaccustomed to drink it. A few 
years since a number of gentlemen from the village pur- 
chased the farm in which the spring rises, sunk a shaft, 
and adjusted a new tube, built baths and other accom- 
modations for the use of visitors, and placed a steam boat 



Hand-Book of Saratoga. 81 

on the lake to ply between the Lake house and the 
spring, -which made two trips daily. Two or three years 
subsequently, the building took fire and burned to the 
ground ; the year following the boat was removed from 
the lake, and all the arrangements which had been made 
to bring the sulphur water into notice have been, for 
the present suspended.* Since the loss of the boat and 
the burning of the house, a bridge has been thrown 
across the outlet of Saratoga lake, and now, if a road 
should be constructed along the lake shore to Snake 
hill, and thence to the Sulphur Spring, it would be im- 
mediately brought within practicable distance of the 
village, and a new and beautiful drive of three hours 
would be opened. 



CHAPTER IV. 

Chloride of Sodium is distributed very generally 
over the surface of the globe. The ocean, seas, salt 
lakes and mineral springs, hold large quantities of it in 
solution, while Russia, Germany, Poland, Hungary, 
Africa, Spain, England, and South America, furnish 
large deposits of this salt in a fossil state. 

There is a fossil deposit in Nantwich, Cheshire, Eng- 
land, which will illustrate this mineral formation, in the 
state of rock salt. 

* Another steam boat has since been placed upon the lake, and regularly 
plies during the summer season, between the bridge aud the Sulphur 
Spring. 



82 Hand-Book of Saratoga. 

This salt formation lies one hundred and sixty miles 
northwest from the city of London, on the banks of the 
river Weaver, near the confluence of that stream with 
the Don. It extends over parts of the townships of 
Willan Castle, Nantwich, Winnington, Marsdon, Liff- 
wick, and Anderton. At Nantwich, there is one mass 
of this salt, which is sixty-five feet thick, three thousand 
nine hundred feet wide, and a mile and a half long; 
supplying annually sixty thousand tons of salt, which 
are conveyed thence to Liverpool by the Weaver and 
Mersey. Under this fossil are salt wells, varying in 
depth from ninety to one hundred and twenty feet. 
From these wells alone forty-five thousand tons of salt 
are annually procured by artificial evaporation, which 
is also marketed in the city of Liverpool.* 

Other portions of the county supply fifty-one thousand 
tons ) making in all, one hundred and eighty-six thou- 
sand tons of salt exported from a single fossil deposit. 
If this may be accepted as a specimen of the productive- 
ness of rock salt formation in general, immense quan- 
tities of this substance must exist on the surface of the 
earth. 

But large as this estimate makes the quantity of saline 
deposits in the interior of the earth, yet it represents but 
a small .portion of the aggregate of this substance con- 
tained in ocean, seas, lakes, &c., all of which vary greatly 
in the strength of their solutions. 

It is found, as is well known, in the fluids of the 
animal system, supplied doubtless by their food. A 

* U. S. Dispensatory. 



Hand-Book of Saratoga. 83 

certain amount of this substance seems to be necessary 
for the healthful condition of animal life, though an 
excess of it occasioned disease, as is noticeable in the fact, 
that persons long at sea, who eat but few vegetables, and 
use salt meat freely, usually suffer from scurvy. A dis- 
ease not unlike scurvy, and produced by the same cause, 
is not uncommon on land. 

When taken into the stomach it may act as a tonic, 
cathartic, diuretic, emetic, and antiseptic, its effects 
being determined by the state of the system at the time 
it is taken, and the quantity used. Saline baths are 
particularly appropriate for persons with a relaxed, 
moist skin, and for children of scrofulous habits and low 
nutrition. One pound of salt to four gallons of water is 
a suitable solution for this purpose. It is soluble in 
twice its weight of water at 60° Fah. 

As an antiseptic, chloride of sodium or common salt 
has been long known, and very generally used. Fish 
and flesh are preserved by it for long periods of time. 
In the year 1805, there was a piece of beef in the Leve- 
rian Museum, London, which was a remnant of the pro- 
visions taken by Lord Anson, on his voyage " around 
the world," between the years 1739 and 1744. 

In agriculture, salt has been used as a fertilizer, on 
dry lands. As it is deliquescent, attracting water from 
the atmosphere, it thereby, in part, supplies the defi- 
ciency of moisture in the soil. 

The quantity of this salt obtained by evaporation from 
a given amount of any of the mineral springs at Sara- 



84 Hand-Book of Saratoga. 

toga, is equal to more than one-half the sum of all the 
salts contained in them. 

It occurs, geologically, in the secondary formations, 
associated with gypsum, slate, clay deposits, limestone, 
and red sandstone. 

Although the United States contain no deposits of 
fossil salt, so far as we know, yet brine springs are nu- 
merous in this country, and some of them are among the 
most celebrated in the world. Those of Salina, Onon- 
daga county, N. Y., are justly distinguished. They 
hold in solution 19 per cent, of this salt. The state of 
New York draws a part of her revenue from the manu- 
facture of salt at Salina, and annually employs several 
thousand persons about the works. 

Thirty-three and one-quarter gallons of Salina water 

will furnish a bushel of salt of the ordinary marketable 

dryness, while at 

Nantucket, 350 gallons make one bushel. 

New York, 300 " " 

Boon's Licks, Mo., 460 " " 

Connaugh, Penn., 300 " " 

Zanesville, Ohio, *. 95 " " 

Salina, N. Y., (new springs), 30 " " 

In the year 1841, 3,134,317 bushels of salt were in- 
spected at the Onondaga salt-works.* In the arts this 
salt is much used in the manufacture of carbonate of 
soda. Its existence in the mineral waters of Saratoga 
was demonstrated by Valentine Seaman in 1809. 

Carbonate of Soda. — This salt was first called Na- 
tron, from the name of the desert from which it was 
taken. When it exists as a solid it is called native soda. 
* Geological Reports of New York. 



Hand-Book of Saratoga. 85 

It is chiefly found in Egypt, Hungary, and South 
America, where it occurs principally in lakes, and small 
ponds, from which it is taken in a state of solution, and 
evaporated by the sun. 

Soda has been obtained by the incineration of marine 
plants. In Spain, these plants have been cultivated for 
the purpose of procuring carbonate of soda ; and the 
best quality has been obtained from the barilla thus pro- 
duced ; kelp is another form of impure soda, which is 
obtained also from the ashes of marine plants; but the 
salicornia, from which an impure form of soda is ob- 
tained, grows on the rocky coasts of many countries — as 
Wales, Scotland, and Ireland. 

The salt is colorless, possesses an alkaline reaction, 
and a disagreeable taste. It effervesces with acids, is 
soluble in about two parts of cold water, and in a blaze 
of alcohol it burns with a yellow flame, its usual im- 
purity is common salt, which is easily detected by a 
solution of nitrate of silver. But at the present day, it 
is more generally procured from common salt than from 
marine plants. Medicinally, it is used to correct an 
acid condition of the secretions — as gout, gravel, and 
certain forms of dyspepsia. It has been used also in 
whooping-cough, bronchocele, and scrofula. • Dr. Per- 
chier, at Geneva, considers it preferable to iodine in the 
treatment of bronchocele. 

In diseases of the skin, where a papulous or scaly 

state of the surface exists, it is administered in doses of 

from ten grains to half a drachm in some bitter infusion. 

An overdose acts as a corrosive and irritant poison ; the 

9 



86 Hand-Book of Saratoga. 

antidotes are olive oil, acetic acid, or lemon juice. A 
proper strength for a lotion, is from ten grains to three 
drachms to a pint of water ; and for a general bath, 
eight to sixteen ounces in about ten gallons of water. 
The ointment may be formed, varying in strength from 
eight to sixty grains to one ounce of lard, according to 
the case. It was detected as a constituent of the Sara- 
toga mineral water in the year 1795, by Dr. Vandervoort 
of New York. 

Carbonate of Lime. — This substance is widely 
spread through many of the surface rocks, and appears 
in some one of the various forms of spar, and common 
and shell limestone, marble, marl and chalk, and in the 
surface water of all limestone countries, and enters 
largely into the composition of the shells of fishes. In 
the form of limewater and prepared chalk, it is fre- 
quently used to correct acidity of the stomach occasioned 
by weak digestion. It is decomposed by heat and the 
acids, also by potassa, soda, baryta, strontia, and by 
acidulous and metallic salts. Dr. Vandervoort demon- 
strated its presence in the Saratoga water in the year 
1795. 

Carbonate of Magnesia. — This substance was dis- 
covered in the beginning of the eighteenth century, 
and was sold in the shops of Italy as a secret remedy, 
possessing of course, great curative powers, under the 
imposing name of Count Palmer. But in 1755, Dr. 
Black examined it, and clearly demonstrated its chemical 
composition. 

It exists largely in nature, and is one of the four 



Hand-Book op Saratoga. 87 

earths forming so considerable a portion of the crust of 
our planet. It is principally derived from the bitterns 
in salt pans after the crystallization of common salt ; and 
Scotland, New England, and Baltimore are celebrated 
for its manufacture. It is sparingly soluble in water, 
but is more so at a temperature of 60° than 212° This 
is owing to the partial expulsion of the carbonic acid by 
the excessive heat of the water, which renders it partially 
soluble in that menstruum. 

As a cathartic, carbonate of magnesia is very gene- 
rally used in cases of weak digestion, and in cases of an 
acid stomach it produces most salutary effects. The 
morbid acids of the stomach and bowels decompose the 
carbonate of magnesia, and, forming other salts of mag- 
nesia in the bowels, leave the carbonic acid in a free 
state in the first passages; this is most acceptable to 
these organs even when in a sensitive and irritable con- 
dition. 

These soothing properties render it very applicable to 
debilitated adults, and in many diseases incidental to 
childhood. 

As a lithontriptic, it has been prescribed to prevent 
the formation of calculi when the uric acid predominates. 

It is an antidote to poison by arsenic, and nitric and 
sulphuric acids. Its existence in these waters was first 
determined by Dr. Vandervoort, of New York, 1795. 

Carbonate of Iron * — This salt of iron has been 
long known, and is widely distributed through the mine- 

* Detected as a constituent of the Saratoga Mineral Water in I795,*by 
Dr. Vandervoort. 



88 



Hand-Book of Saratoga. 



ral, vegetable, and animal kingdoms, probably, in part, 
giving the varied tints to the petals of flowers, and col- 
oring the globules of the blood* of man and other warm- 
blooded animals. It is powerfully tonic as a medicine ; 
it raises the pulse, promotes the secretions, and it being 
one of the ingredients in the mineral waters of Saratoga, 
of course adds greatly to their value as alteratives. 

Professor Emmons discovered phosphate of iron in 
the water of the Empire Spring. This ferruginous salt 
is an important medicine when prepared by the chemist: 

Iodide of Potassa. — I^ine was first discovered by 
Courtois, a manufacturer of saltpetre in Paris, in the 
mother water of sea-weeds. As a medicine, it has been 
very much used since 1812, and at the present time is 
variously compounded, and enters largely into the most 
important prescriptions of modern times. This sub- 
stance was discovered in the water of the Congress 
Spring by Dr. William Usher, and his discovery was 
published in the American Journal, No. 1, vol. 15. 

Dr. John H. Steel detected iodine in all the Saratoga 
waters in the year 1828, and 1829 published the fact in 
the suceeding volume of the same journal. It excites 
strongly the glandular system, and possesses great alter- 
ative power. It has since been found that they contain 
even more grains per gallon than the celebrated baths of 
Lugol. 

Bromine was discovered by Bolard, of Montpelier, 
in France, while experimenting on the water of ponds, 
and from its unpleasant odor he called it bromine. It 
has been used as a medicine since 1829. Like iodine, it 



« Hand-Book of Saratoga 89 

is found to exist quite uniformly in sea water and in 
salt springs, in both Europe and America. In America 
it was first discovered by Professor Silliman, of New 
Haven, in water of the salt springs of Salina, Onondaga 
county, New York, and in the mineral waters of Sara- 
toga, by A. A. Hays, of Connecticut. Its action on the 
animal system is nearly the same as iodine, and may be 
in some cases substituted for it ; but, as it is a more ac- 
tive remedy, it is not so generally used. 

The just named minerals, are among the most im- 
portant of our medical agents ; and perhaps there is not . 
one of the number which does not enter into the daily 
prescriptions of every physician in full practice, whether 
in the city or country. They are rarely, if ever, pre- 
scribed alone, but must be either artificially mixed or 
variously combined with other substances. These com- 
binations must vary at times from the nature of the case, 
whereas in these waters, combination is so uniform that 
results may be exactly calculated and depended upon. 

Hence, doubtless, if these waters were administered 
with the same care which is generally allowed to be 
necessary in the administration of artificial compounds, 
the benefit of them would be greatly increased. One of 
the errors daily committed in their use, is the excessiv# 
quantity taken. Permanent injury is often done in 
cases where, if properly used, they would be attended 
with most salutary effects. 

Carbonic Acid has more volume than any other min- 
eral found in these springs, and it is more generally 
diffused than any other mineral substance known to 



90 Hand-Book or Saratoga. 

science. No height of the atmosphere has failed to give 
evidence of its presence, when it has been subjected to 
appropriate tests ; no depths of the earth unfolded to man, 
have failed to present this peculiar mineral, either in a 
free or combined state, and the rocks found most uni- 
versally on the surface of the earth are carbonate of linie. 
Vegetables cannot grow without it, and the animal king- 
dom is equally dependent on its presence. 

It has been called gas of wine, because found in this 
fluid, and was at one time named choke damp, because 
it produces spasms of the glottis when attempts are made 
to inhale it. One chemist, having disengaged it from a 
piece of chalk, calls ic cretaceous air; another detects it 
in every portion of the atmosphere, and he names it 
aerial acid ; and, finally, the analytical chemist separates 
it into its constituent parts, and demonstrates its chemi- 
cal composition to consist by volume of one part carbon 
and one part oxygen gas. This philosopher, therefore, 
designates it carbonic acid, and by this name the chemist 
knows it at the present day. It is pleasant to the taste, 
slightly pungent, imparting an agreeable flavor ; it has a 
healthful influence when received into the stomach, by 
taking the place of other acids, and changing the chemi- 
cal compounds which are the result of impaired digestion. 
It acts chemically wl^en it corrects the acids and gases 
which result from indigestion, and as a sedative when it 
allays the nausea and vomiting which attend irritation 
of the organ. Its effects on irritable mucous surfaces 
have been noticeable and very beneficial. Professor 
Moyon of Geneva, Switzerland, used it in case of dysme- 
norrhea, with the most soothing effects. It is irrespira- 



Hand-Book of Saratoga. 91 

ble, even when it is inhaled with the atmosphere in the 
proportion of one part of gas to nine of air, it becomes a 
narcotic poison by producing stupor, insensibility, and 
death. But it imparts the sparkling, lively appearance 
to champagne, beer, cider, and the soda water of the 
shops. 

The mineral springs of Saratoga produce large quan- 
tities of this gas, and the tubes are always filled with it 
above the water, and experiments upon animal life may 
at any time be made here.* 

Combined with water, it forms a grateful drink to 
febrile patients, allaying thirst, lessening nausea, gastric 
irritation, and increasing the secretions of urine. It has 
been prescribed for gravel and urinary calculi with good 
results. 

Its specific gravity is 1.521. This quality of the 
mineral, favors its accumulation in caverns, wells, and 
other low situations, near which it is generated, if un- 
occupied by water. Its presence in siich places may, as 
is well known, be detected by lowering a lighted taper, 
which in this gas will be extinguished immediately. 

"Water under the pressure of the atmosphere holds 
one volume of this gas in solution, and if the pressure 
is increased, the quantity of the mineral is correspond- 
ingly accumulated; and on again diminishing the pres- 
sure to that of the atmosphere, only the gas escapes 
with active effervescence. 

The mineral water at this place holds more than one 
volume of carbonic acid in solution. It therefore must 

* In 1864, a strong man in attempting to fill a pitcher from the Pavilion 
fountain, put his head into the tube and lost his life, by inhaling the gas. 



92 Hand-Book of Saratoga. 

have been subject to a pressure greater than that of the 
atmosphere, and on rising to the surface of the ground, 
this extra pressure is removed and the gas escapes, giv- 
ing a simmering or a boiling motion to the surface of 
the water in the spring. 

In the year 1823, Faraday subjected carbonic acid to 
the pressure of thirty-six atmospheres, and a fluid was 
produced. This liquid gas is also colorless and exceed- 
ingly mobile, having a specific gravity of 0.83 at the 
temperature of 32° Fahr. And in 1836, Thilosier solidi* 
fied it by taking advantage of the cold which was gene- 
rated by the sudden gasefaction of the liquid acid. 
When a solid it is a white, filamentous body, something 
like asbestos. This gas is soluble in ether j and by the 
evaporation of this solution, the most intense cold, viz., 
160° Fah., has been obtained. Carbonic acid gas is 
very sensibly affected by heat, so that the temperature 
which would increase the volume of air once, will 
increase that of c^bonic acid four fold. 

When this mineral is dissolved in water, it very much 
increases the solvent powers of that menstruum, enabling 
it to take up and hold in solution, lime, magnesia, and 
iron, in greatly increased quantities ; hence the variety 
of constituents in the mineral fountains of Saratoga. 
And, if one ounce of the mineral water be evaporated, 
salts will be precipitated which would not be redissolved 
by gallons of common rain water. 

The presence of this gas in the mineral water of Sar- 
atoga increases its solvency about one-third. The phe- 
nomenon of the High Rock Spring will be seen to illus- 
trate this fact. 






Hand-Book of Saratoga. 93 

Besides the sources already mentioned from which 
this gas is derived, as the atmosphere, combustion, growth 
and slow decomposition of vegetables, decomposition of 
calcareous rock, fermentation of saccharine matter ; it is 
also a result of volcanic action. This gas is also evolved 
in great quantities from all the mineral springs lying 
along this mineral range. 

That an immense amount of gas is contained in these 
springs is obvious. That it is freely imparted ,by them 
as soon as they are subjected to the pressure of the atmos- 
phere alone, is equally well known. But the great ques- 
tion which has thus far been, and perhaps may long be 
unanswered, still remains : By what process, and at what 
depths of the earth's crust, have they become thus freely 
charged ? 

Several theories have been advanced to account for the 
origin of carbonic acid in mineral fountains, as volcanic, 
chemical, &c, &c. 

It has been supposed by some, that the gases which 
occur in different fountains, are derived from the rocks 
which form the channels of subterranean water courses. 
This supposition of the source of the gases is farther 
t strengthened by the fact, that gases differing in kind, 
have been obtained at different depths in the same boring, 
as in the Ferry street well in the city of Albany. In 
this instance, at the depth of thirty feet, sulphuretted 
hydrogen gas was found, at four hundred feet carburetted 
hydrogen was obtained, and at four hundred and eighty 
feet carbonic acid, free, and also combined with soda, 
magnesia, and iron came sparkling up, nearly to the top 



94 Hand-Book of Saratoga. 

of the well. The boring was continued to the depth of 
six hundred feet from the surface ; but the same kiud 
of mineral waters continued to flow, charged with gases. 
These could be separated by tubes introduced into each 
other, so as effectually to separate the three several kinds 
of water occurring in the same shaft. 

If these gases had been the product of volcanic action, 
would they not have appeared together at the different 
heights in the same boring, and could they have been 
separated, as was done in the Ferry street well ? 

Others have accounted for the gas in the fountain by 
the reciprocal action of sulphuret of iron, and carbonate 
of lime, contained in the strata of argilite in which they 
exist ; but admitting this origin for the gas, it is not easy 
to account for the absence of sulphate of lime, of which 
not a trace has been discovered in the waters of Saratoga. 

An opinion is entertained by some chemists, that in 
strata holding alkaline and ferruginous carbonates in 
combination, free carbonic acid and alkaline carbonates 
may be found in solution. The theory of slow molecular 
action seems to be attended with fewer difficulties, and 
accounts equally well for the abundant production of 
carbonic acid in this locality. And there can be but little 
doubt but it is an important agent also in elevating the 
mineral water of this region to the surface of the earth. 
For it has been observed that in all cases of tubing these 
fountains, the gas does not rise in the springs until some 
hours or even days after the water has reached its 
maximum height. Then it begins first to simmer in a 
very slight and feeble way, gradually increasing, till at 
length the surface of the fountain is agitated like water 



Hand-Book of Saratoga. 95 

in a boiling cauldron. And if, by any cause, the pres- 
sure of the column of water within the tube is increased, 
the gas will cease to rise for a time, but will appear again 
as active as ever, after the gas has had time to accommo- 
date, and adapt itself to the additional pressure. 

It has been objected, that if this process is going on, 
mineral springs should occur more frequently. It may 
be said in reply, that they are very much more common 
than is generally supposed, inasmuch as forty-four coun- 
ties of the state of New York furnish mineral springs. 
Water, next to atmospheric air, is the most abundant and 
most generally diffused fluid in nature. Its solvent power 
is such, that it is rarely found pure. As it expands into 
vapor by the influence of heat, it rises into the air, 
where it comes in contact with oxygen, nitrogen, carbonic 
acid and ammoniacal salts. These i£ dissolves, and when 
the vapor condenses into rain, hail, or snow, it still holds 
them in solution, and returns them to the ground. These 
substances are thus particularly well prepared for food 
for plants; and hence the invigoration and rapid growth 
of vegetation which invariably follow gentle falls of rain 
and snow in the late spring. And so obvious is this 
effect even of a late snow, upon the growth of vegetation, 
that farmers have called it the " the poor man's manure." 
It is tolerably well understood that the artificial irriga- 
tion of plants does not produce results nearly so desirable, 
and hence we are led to the supposition, at least, that 
water holds its combinations in a manner quite different, 
whether falling in showers, running in springs, or stand- 
ing quietly in vessels; though it may be true, as has 



96 



Hand-Book of Saratoga. 



sometimes been supposed, that these combinations are in 
each instance the same, in kind and proportion.* 

When the water percolates the soil, or runs deep 
among the rocks which compose the crust of the earth, 
it comes in contact with a great variety of minerals, acids, 
alkalies, and fossils, dissolving a portion of each. These 
substances are thus conveyed in solution to the ocean, • 
where the water is evaporated, and the salts are precipi- 
tated. In this way a constant increase of earths, min- 
erals and salts is taking place in the great reservoirs of 
the globe. 

Thus, perhaps, have been excavated the large caves 
common in limestone formations. The water having 
always more or less carbonic acid in solution becomes an 
active solvent of lime, and when brought in contact with 
it, takes it up from the surface of the rock, thence- it 
flows off; but if the temperature be raised the lime is 
precipitated; hence the stalactites, stalagmites, &c, so 
abundant in these localities. 

When water, percolating through the surface of the 
earth, meets some impervious stratum, it is accumulated 
upon it until it rises to such a level as to find an outlet. 
This outlet is called a spring. 

When springs differ from ordinary water in contain- 
ing a larger proportion of saline ingredients, with vari- 
ous gases in greater or less quantities, they are called 
mineral springs. 

By acidulous or carbonated springs, we mean those 



*The changes which take place in the character of the solutions of 
water under different circumstances, might become a subject of curious 
inquiry. 



Hand-Book of Saratoga. 97 

fountains which are charged with carbonic acid. They 
have a peculiar, sparkling and exhilarating effect, and 
contain always some alkaline carbonate as one of the con- 
stituents. 

To this class of mineral springs belong the well known 
fountains of Saratoga. This kind of mineral water is 
not very common, and in the state of New York has 
been only found in the mineral range already described.* 



CHAPTER V. 

Evacuant. — As a general evacuant in cases of long 
standing debility and depraved general health, I know of 
no remedy, either simple or compound, which can be 
compared with these mineral waters, if judiciously used 
and persevered in. 

As a cathartic they are pleasant to the taste, grateful 
to the stomach, efficient as an evacuant while they leave 
the alimentary canal stronger, and its functions more 
vigorous. Patients whose digestive organs have been 
impaired by disease, enfeebled by excess, or exhausted 
by the toil of accumulated years, find in them an agent 
which will relieve the organs, without first increasing 
the existing debility. When taken in the morning upon 
an empty stomach, in a potation from half a pint to 
three pints, a full and copious dejection soon takes 

* See page 31 in this work. 

10 



98 Hand-Book of Saratoga. 

place ; unloading the whole length of the digestive tube 
of the remnants of the previous day's ingesta, which is 
of no farther use to the system, but on the contrary, 
may be the source of much harm. This free evacuation 
is copious, without pain, and leaves the digestive tube 
at perfect freedom to exert its digestive and assimilating 
powers on the next portion of food presented to it. 

And although the dejections are free, and in many 
instances most copious, yet no languor or debility is ex- 
perienced by the patient, but on the contrary, his appe- 
tite is increased for the next meal. Even the digestive 
functions are greatly improved, the power of assimilation 
and nutrition is increased, additional strength is imparted 
to the body, and as a consequence, new and increased 
vigor to the mind. 

Diuretic. — As a diuretic they are no less happy in 
their results, in cases proper for their use, than as a ca- 
thartic. For their action on the kidneys, and the gen- 
eral renal secretions, is prompt, certain, uniform and 
efficient. But they must be differently administered 
when diuretic effects are to be obtained ; the quantity 
taken at a time should be less, and repeated at shorter 
intervals, and if possible the water should be drunk 
fresh from the fountain. 

Diaphoretic. — As a diaphoretic they are equally 
successful as an evacuant. And very many cutaneous 
diseases find ready relief from an alterative course of 
them. In the case of those who have resorted here for 
relief, and have come under my personal observation, a 
very large proportion of them have had an exceedingly 



Hand-Book of Saratoga. 99 

bad functional state of the skin ; and oftener than other- 
wise, if there had been any error committed by their 
medical adviser at home, it was not sufficiently regard- 
ing this great depurating organ. The bowels had been 
purged, the functions of the kidneys inquired after ; but 
those of the skin had never been thought of either by 
the patient or his physician, and this neglect carried 
sometimes even to the lack of ordinary cleanliness. 

In this connection I wish to correct what seem to 
me to be errors in the minds of many people, viz. : that 
physic will cure constipation of the bowels, and that a 
very free state of the first passages is necessary to health 
and comfort. Now, both of these positions are un- 
doubtedly wrong. Physic is an evil, and is to be taken 
as a choice of evils when taken at all. It must interfere 
with digestion, and all the legitimate functions of the 
digestive and assimilative organs, by exhausting to a 
greater or less degree their vital powers so that they are 
less qualified to prepare nutriment for the individual. 
A free state of the bowels is an unnatural state of the 
organs, and the food passes from the digestive tube be- 
fore the absorbents have had time to take up the nutri- 
ment. And a majority of the mineral water drinkers 
physic themselves too much. A healthy action of the 
bowels is all that is required; and all extremes are to be 
avoided. Constipation is only to be cured by checking 
those functions which are in excess, and properly cor- 
recting the secretions and stimulating the muscles of the 
bowels. A relaxed state of the bowels is to be remedied 
by increasing the secretions of the kidneys and the skin, 
and regulating the diet. 



100 Hand-Book of Saratoga. 

Bilious Diseases. — In those cases where the liver 
is making bile, unhealthy in quality or quantity, but 
without organic lesion, these waters, used as a cathartic 
in the morning, with such assistance over night as the 
case may require, produce the most happy results. But 
if a higher grade of arterial action is present, or if or- 
ganic lesion has taken place, and a dropsical state of the 
lower extremities has supervened, then they are injurious 
without an exception. But it must be remembered, that 
extensive swellings may take place from a great variety 
of causes besides organic disease, which may be relieved 
with great facility by a proper and timely use of these 
mineral waters. 

In a passive state of the bowels, when an evacuation 
is only obtained after much time, or large doses of active 
medicines, with .clay-colored stools, and a dry and rough 
state of the skin, the cathartic mineral waters, taken in 
the morning an hour or two before breakfast, in proper 
quantities for physic, and in smaller portions through 
the day, to operate on the kidneys, skin, and liver, will 
in a few days regulate the system most perfectly. But 
in bilious difficulties of the above description, much 
relief may be obtained by proper and timely bathing. 
These baths should be of mineral water generally, and 
used in the form of a shower-bath, about ten or eleven 
o'clock in the morning. After the bath, it is important 
that the patient should be carefully wiped dry, and the 
friction on the surface continued with a coarse towel, or 
a flesh-brush, until the skin is warm and generally 
flushed. This rubbing should in most instances be done 
by the patient himself, for the circulation is thereby 



H±nd-Book of Saratoga. 101 

thrown upon the surface, and the congestion of the in- 
ternal organs more effectually relieved. In some of the 
above cases, I have known such an active state of the kid- 
neys or skin to exist, that almost all the fluids of every 
description which the system could receive, would be 
passed directly from the body by the agency of the renal 
organs, or the pores of the skin. And notwithstanding 
large quantities of mineral water had been taken by the 
patient, yet the constipation would continue to be more 
and more difficult to overcome, the torpidity of the bowels 
more and more aggravated, and the long and unpleasant 
train of morbid action incident to an excessive secretion 
of the kidneys or of the skin, also superadded to former 
sufferings, by the very course resorted to for relief. This 
state of the system is easily overcome by proper medicine 
taken over night, followed in the morning by cathartic 
water, together with bathing and friction of the skin. 
In other cases again, there may be a little general excite- 
ment, which will be so much enhanced by the carbonic 
acid, that it becomes necessary to expel it before the 
water is taken. This is usually accomplished by setting 
the water in the lodging-room over night, or by immersino- 
it in warm water in the morning just before using it ; this 
will expel the gas and insure the cathartic effect by 
adapting it to the state of the system. 

Alterative Use of the Water. — When the 
cathartic effects are obtained by the use of the water, 
many people seem to think the work is completed, and 
they of course expect to be well, when in truth they 
have taken but one step toward a permanent cure. They 



102 Hand-Book of Saratoga. 

Lave, by an antiseptic physic, evacuated the first passages 
of ill-prepared feculent matter. But the water has passed 
through the bowels, and scarcely any of it has entered 
into the system proper, or passed the secreting organs, 
and become a part of the circulating fluids of the body, 
or combined with their nutriment. This is only to be 
done by small potations taken repeatedly through the 
day; and in most instances these draughts should be 
taken from the more tonic springs, as the Columbian, 
Hamilton, and the High Rock fountains. 

The quantity of water taken in this way should be 
small at first, say a gill or half a pint for delicate females, 
and others in proportion, and should be repeated every 
three or four hours throughout the day, and gradually 
increased in quantity until the maximum amount the 
system can dispose of properly has been reached by the 
patient. In this way an alterative course is obtained, 
which may change the whole secretions of the body; a 
very important point to be obtained in most cases of 
chronic disease. 

The small alterative potations should be drunk at the 
fountains, where the water is as perfect as it is possible 
to obtain it. 

Gravel. — In a gravelly state of the kidneys and the 
bladder, many well-attested cases might be produced, 
where the patients have been cured by the waters from 
these mineral springs. They should be drunk in such 
quantities, and with such repetition as to insure a copious 
diuretic effect, when large quantities of sand, and fre- 
quently small calculi will be discharged with the urine. 



Hand-Book of Saratoga. 103 

This result is frequently much assisted by the use of the 
warm bath, which, in a large proportion of the cases, will 
increase the secretions of the kidneys. And even in 
cases where there has evidently been organic lesion of 
the bladder present, the free use of the mineral water 
seemed to furnish more relief than any other remedy 
previously used, although the patient had been subject to 
the directions of the first medical men. 

Chronic Rheumatism. — This formidable disease 
has been repeatedly cured by a free use of the water 
taken as a cathartic in the morning, as an alterative 
through the day, and externally applied in the form of a 
shower bath, cold from one of the mineral fountains. 

Phagedenic. — In ill-conditioned ulcers of the above 
character, these mineral waters have been found very 
beneficial, and are to be internally and externally applied. 
The external application, both general and local, should 
be prescribed, when, in a short time, the ulcers will 
change their aspect and begin to heal. 

Cutaneous Diseases. — Diseases of the skin are 
very numerous,, and some of them are difficult to treat in 
. crdinary practice. But all those which depend on an 
acid state of the secretions, and which have been con- 
trolled by an alkaline treatment, are happily treated by 
the mineral water. These cases require the fluids of the 
body to be saturated with the mineral water, and also the 
daily application of the bath. Papulous diseases in- 
volving the whole surface of the body, are perfectly cured 
during one season by the use of these mineral waters. 



104 Hand-Book or Saratoga. 

Scrofula. — This state of the . system is greatly 
relieved by the use of the mineral waters of Saratoga. 
Those laboring under it should drink the water in the 
morning as an aperient, take it as an alterative through 
the day, and bathe regularly once during every twenty- 
four hours, unless some particular reason for the omission 
should exist. In these cases, the external application is 
highly important. Iodine and bromine occur in sufficient 
quantities in these waters, sensibly to affect such cases, 
when applied generally to the surface, and in amount 
even equal to the quantity used in baths with so much 
success in the south of Europe. 

The temperature and frequency of the baths in these 
diseases, must depend upon the general health of the 
patient, the state of the weather, and the season of the 
year when they are used. 

Chlorosis. — This disease and many other kindred 
difficulties, are readily removed by a judicious course of 
drinking and bathing in these mineral waters. But I 
have known some patients much injured by attempting 
to practise a course of diet, medicine and exercise, accord- 
ing to some popular direction, which may be very proper 
in some cases, but not necessary in all — as for instance,, 
early rising, long walks, deep draughts of cold water ; and 
all this, to be accomplished before breakfast by females, 
who for years have not risen in the morning until the 
breakfast hour ; never have been accustomed to walk any 
considerable distance at any time in the twenty-four 
hours ; with stomachs extremely irritable, and their gen- 
eral health feeble. For such patients to leave a warm 



Hand-Book of Saratoga. 105 

bed, subject themselves to the difference of temperature 
between it and the morning air about the fountain, and 
drench their stomachs with large portions of cold mineral 
water, then return to the hotel, and add to all the rest a 
full meal of stimulating food, must be a hurtful, if it be 
not a dangerous experiment. 

By these remarks, I wish not to be understood as 
being opposed to early rising, exercising in the morning 
air, and drinking the water at the several fountains ; but 
I mean to be understood as saying, that all persons who 
visit these springs in pursuit of health, cannot rise at the 
same hour in the morning, take a walk of the same 
length, drink the same number of tumblers of cold 
mineral water, and eat the same kind of food, and to the 
same extent, with precisely the same results. I mean 
that every person's exercise should be measured by his 
ability; his food by his power to digest and assimilate ; 
that his rising in the morning, and the amount of water 
drank, where and at what temperature, should depend 
on the effects produced, rather than on the popular 
opinion of good, wise, or fashionable individuals, who 
have " known all about the water," because they had 
been here before, once or oftener, and had drank it by 
" rule." 

Phthisis. — Much as has been said of late, about the 
effects of mineral water there in this disease, I have yet 
to learn that they have ever been of use in well-marked 
cases of this kind. And from those who have thought 
and written to the contrary, I must beg most respect- 
fully to differ. I have never seen a case, where I thought 



106 Hand-Book of Saratoga. 

there was even a shade of palliation produced by the use 
of the water, but on the contrary it has been always 
injurious, increasing all the alarming symptoms of this 
most formidable disease. 

I have however known many coughs and pains about 
the pectoral regions, most promptly and effectually cured 
by drinking the mineral waters, but the cough and the 
pains in the chest were dependent upon a diseased ac- 
tion in one or more of the digestive and assimilating; 
organs, and not on that pathological state of the lungs 
which is phthisis pulmonalis. My advice to all who are 
laboring under this disease, is, not to drink of any one 
of our mineral springs whether recently or long since dis- 
covered. 

Diseases peculiar to the Southern and Western states , 
and which are caused by miasma, are much relieved by 
a few weeks' sojourn at the Springs. The stimulating 
and dry atmosphere of Saratoga county is well calculated 
to remove- diseases which occur in the damp miasmatic 
climates which prevail along the seaboard, and the lakes 
and the rivers of the Western and Southwestern states. 
And the morbid condition of the digestive organs, which 
so frequently attends bilious diseases, is often removed 
by the use of the water, because it acts powerfully on the 
secretions of the liver, the skin, and the kidneys. 

Another class of patients which receive much benefit 
here, are those who have, by too close and protracted 
application to business, over-taxed the brain and nervous 
system. This class of patients can spend a few weeks at 
Saratoga, and be speedily relieved from their anxious 
cares and labors without becoming impatient of their 






Hand-Book of Saratoga. 107 

want of employment. The day passes, and the week 
even is gone, and they can scarcely account for it. 
Their time has been completely occupied, and yet they 
have had no particular business on hand at any hour. 
While the cause which produced their indisposition is 
removed, nature, aided by the wholesome atmosphere, 
the medical qualities of the mineral waters, and the con- 
genial friends who surround them, restores them uncon- 
sciously to health. 

Drinking the Waters in the Winter. — Although 
• it has been the custom for half a century past, to use 
these mineral waters as a medicine during the warm sea- 
sons of the year, few comparatively have been induced to 
remain here during the colder portions of the year, to 
use the water as a remedial agent; but long experience 
has most clearly established the fact, that they may be 
used with nearly as much promise of success in the win- 
ter as at any other season of the year. It is true that 
July and August are the fashionable months at Saratoga, 
and many who reside in the large cities being compelled 
by the sickly season at home, to remove into the country 
for safety, make choice of these months for their annual 
visits. It is also an interval from active business, which 
is an additional reason for their making their annual 
tours for pleasure and health at this time. But a large 
proportion of invalids have not these restrictions for 
their annual visit, and might come in the cold weather 
as well as the warm if they were aware of the practica- 
bility of using the water during the Winter, Spring, 
and Autumn. 



108 • Hand-Book of Saratoga. 

We have never been able to detect any difference in 
the temperature, specific gravity, or mineral composition 
of the waters during the winter months. They have 
their origin so deep in the earth, and so remote from the 
circulating currents of fresh water on the surface, that 
the fall and spring rains do not affect them in the least. 
The waters, therefore, are as medicinal during the three 
quarters of the year when they are not used at the 
fountain, as they are during the other quarter. Those 
who have used them during the winter with marked suc- 
cess, practically confirm the above conclusions, and were 
I called upon for some of the most striking instances of 
relief obtained by drinking the waters, I should refer to 
cases treated in the winter season, as among the most 
prominent. No distinction need be made, save with 
those who cannot endure the exposure of their journey. 
The cases in which the water is applicable, are the same, 
in the winter as in the summer. 



CHAPTER VI. 

Bathing means the immersion of the body, or a part 
of it, for a medicinal purpose in a medium different from 
that which commonly surrounds it. The medicine in 
general use is water alone, or water holding medicinal 
substances in solution. One of the most important things 
in a bath is its temperature. This ranges generally be- 
tween 33° and 123° Fahrenheit. A bath can not be 






Hand-Book of Saratoga. 109 

used lower than 33°, for an obvious reason, nor can a 
higher temperature than 123° be employed with a proba- 
bility of a medicinal effect. 

For the purpose of practically arranging the tempera- 
ture, Dr. Forbes has graduated it as follows : a cold bath, 
ranging from 33° to 60° Fahr. j a cool bath, from 60° 
to 75° ; a temperate bath, from 75° to 85° ; a tepid bath, 
from 85° to 90° j a warm bath, from 92° to 98° ; and a 
hot bath, from 98° to 112°. 

When water of a low temperature is for a moment ap- 
plied to the body, a shock ensues, but this is soon fol- 
lowed by a pleasant reaction. But if the immersion is 
continued for a considerable length of time, and the 
temperature of the surface again diminished, then a 
sensation of actual cold, with permanent tremors and 
shudderings ensues ; the extremities are benumbed, the 
person becomes languid, exhausted, and, finally, power- 
less. No glow succeeds this second chill. The face 
becomes shrunken, the extremities diminish in size, so 
that rings will frequently fall from the fingers. The 
pulse becomes small, and less frequent than natural, a 
feeling of oppression extends across the chest, and the 
renal secretions are increased. If a person leaves the 
bath before the accession of the second chill, or quite 
soon after, he will have a glow in ten or fifteen minutes, 
or even in less time ; the blood returns to the surface, 
the extremities recover their size, the stricture across 
the chest passes off, and a feeling of buoyancy ensues, 
with increased animal strength. 

The prominent features to be noticed in the effects 
11 



110 



Hand-Book of Saratoga. 



above mentioned are the shock and the reaction. The 
chill may be so considerable, owing to a previously re- 
laxed state of the system, as that the shock may result 
in death. The fluids of the body recede from the sur- 
face in consequence of the torpor of the nervous system, 
and hence the shrinking of the capillaries, which force 
the blood back to the interior of the body, into the sub- 
stance of the large viscera, as the lungs, liver, &c. In 
the reacto?y process, the overloaded viscera are power- 
fully aroused by their crowded state, and the muscles of 
the parts are sympathetically excited, as well as the 
nervous system ; increased heat follows \ the fluids are 
returned to the surface, and the deranged functions are 
restored to order. 

From the above statement, it will be seen that the 
effects of the cold bath are varied by many circum- 
stances; particularly greater or less vigor, or high or 
low temperature of the system ; hence the patient might 
be strengthened or weakened, benefited or injured, by 
it. And hence, too, the different opinions of physicians 
on the subject. One will call it a sedative, his friend 
will call it a stimulant, while another calls it a tonic. 
"We know the cold is sedative, and if its continuance is 
sufficiently protracted, it will surely end in death. But 
when the cold bath is used in a proper time and manner, 
it acts as a tonic of the first class. 

When the shock is the only object of the bath, the 

water should be used at a low temperature, applied with 

force and suddenness, and for a short space of time. 

The patient should be plunged into a bath, and immedi- 

drawn. Swooning and hysteria are cases 



Hand-Book of Saratoga. Ill 

where the shock is the only effect to be produced. The 
same application might be made in cases of maniacal 
patients. 

Refrigeration. — To obtain this result the water 
should be but a little below the temperature of the body, 
but in continual contact with it until the effect is pro- 
duced. In symptomatic fever, resulting from inflam- 
mation of one of the viscera, this form of application is 
contra-indicated, and unless used with great caution will 
be attended with extreme danger; but in cases of idio- 
pathic fever, as the common, continued, or typhus fever, 
the water should be constantly applied by a sponge, and 
at a temperature but little below the heat of the body. 

Reaction, all other things being equal, is in propor- 
tion to the cold. A sudden immersion produces a 
greater reaction than a gradual one ; a plunge from a 
height produces greater reaction than a simple dip, 
however rapidly performed ; and the water falling from 
a great height on the body, has more effect than water 
of the same temperature applied as in ablution. Within 
certain limits, that is, within any period short of that at 
which healthy reaction ceases, the amount of the re- 
action will be proportioned to the degree of refrigera- 
tion. The reaction will be in proportion to the heat of 
the surface at the time of taking the bath, allowing 
always for individual peculiarities of habit. Cool skin 
or cold extremities are not a proper condition to warrant 
the use of the cold bath. But the skin should be warm, 
and the circulation vigorous in the extremities, before 
entering the cold bath. Reaction is more certainly 



112 Hand-Book of Saratoga. 

produced when the bath is accompanied by muscular 
action, and hence a person swimming obtains a better 
glow, and more tonic effect, than he would if he were 
simply immersed in a bath, and continued in a state of 
repose. 

Whatever prevents the surface of the body from fall- 
ing below the proper degree of heat, or directly stimu- 
lates the skin, or excites the circulation, will propor- 
tionately increase the reaction. To insure this increased 
reaction we see the importance of speedily drying the 
body afterward, by strong and vigorous friction, and 
sometimes it may be necessary to use warm and stimu- 
lating drinks, or active bodily exercise. Unless the 
proper amount of reaction is secured the bath may be 
followed by increased coldness of the surface, and a con- 
gestion of some internal organ. 

Plunge Bath. — The best time in the twenty-four 
hours for a plunge bath is on rising, when the system 
has been refreshed by a night's repose. The nutritive 
organs have then been active in invigorating and repair- 
ing the bo'dy, and as there is more recuperative energy, 
the reacting principle will be the more perfect. The 
next best time is about three or four hours after break- 
fast. And in case the mineral water is to be drunk, 
perhaps this time may be better than the early morning, 
but the physical exercise should be very light, and if the 
skin is at all moist, it should be well dried before enter- 
ing the bath. The mode of entering the bath, and the 
length of time to remain in it, must be regulated by the 
shock, the reaction, and the second chill, as above de- 
scribed. From five to ten minutes is a medium time to 



Hand-Book of Saratoga. 113 

remain in the bath, and while in the water the limbs 
should be kept in motion. On leaving the bath the 
body should be dried as soon as possible with a dry 
towel, and then chafed with a coarse one, until a thorough 
reaction is produced, and a pleasant glow flushes the 
whole body. If a headache ensue, cold applications to 
the head would naturally suggest themselves. But with 
the above mentioned precautions, happy results will 
usually follow. These baths may be repeated daily, or 
every second day, according to the effect produced on 
the patient. The greatest danger generally arises from 
staying too long in the bath. 

Shower Bath. — This bath differs from the plunge, 
in producing a greater shock, particularly if the quantity 
of water is great, its temperature low, and its fall con- 
siderable. In a shower bath the person is surrounded 
by the atmosphere, whereas, in a plunge bath, the body 
is surrounded by a menstruum much more dense than 
the atmosphere ; the precordial distress ' will hence be 
greater than in the plunge bath. In case of fullness, 
and pain about the head, the shower bath is preferable 
to the plunge, inasmuch as the cold and the shock are 
applied directly and at first to the head. In case of ex- 
treme pains about the head, the feet may be put into hot 
water, while the cold shower falls upon the head, and 
thus the circulation is more speedily restored. A com- 
mon bathing tub, with a fixture for a shower bath 
placed over it, answers a good purpose for this kind of 
bath. 

Sponge Baths very nearly resemble in their effects 



114 Hand-Book of Saratoga. 

the shower bath. They are accompanied by a less 
shock, and therefore less reaction. The daily and free 
application of the water to the head, neck, and chest, on 
rising, is one of the simplest and surest tonics we possess, 
and is the best means of hardening the system against 
atmospheric changes, and preventing that unfortunate 
habit of i { always taking cold." This class of persons 
should be particular to bathe their feet,' for their ex- 
tremities are most of the time wet with a morbid perspi- 
ration. 

The Douse or Douche, is a small stream of water 
directed with considerable force from a tube, upon some 
part of the body. This bath varies in effect, according 
to the diameter of the stream, the temperature of the 
water, and the force with which it is thrown upon the 
body. This is an agent of great power, owing to the 
incessant and rapid change of the particles of fluid ap- 
plied to the part to be affected. It may be used with 
great advantage in local inflammation. 

The Hip and Foot Baths are but so many local 
baths. The former is employed in diseases of the pelvic 
viscera, and the latter to the lower extremities. 

While upon the subject, it may be well to name some 
of the morbid conditions in which the cold bathing has 
been found to exert a thorough medicinal effect. It is 
generally applicable to youth and middle age. In in- 
fancy and old age it must be used with great caution. 
In cases of general debility, as in strumous habit, the 
cold bath, carefully applied, is followed by the happiest 
effects. When the skin is relaxed and flabby, and there 



Hand-Book or Saratoga. 115 

is a great tendency to perspiration, or to a cold clammy 
exudation, the cold saline bath is especially indicated. 
And again, when this state of the skin is accompanied 
by a catarrhal disease, the tonic cold bath is especially 
valuable, as also in nervous diseases, as chorea, hysteria, 
and some cases of epilepsy ; also in the loss of certain 
functions, as the voice, smell, taste, &c. ; local paralysis, 
unaccompanied by organic disease of the brain ; in cases 
of nervous dyspepsia, unattended by inflammation of the 
gastrointestinal mucuous membrane ; and in the inter- 
vals of asthma, where the system is in a situation to 
produce the reaction. 

Temperate Bath is 75° to 85°. The effects of this 
bath on the system are of precisely the same kind as 
those of the cold bath, but less in degree. It is appli- 
cable to a different class of cases, from those for which 
the cold bath should be used. For persons not strong, 
and those who have an instinctive shrinking from the 
application of cold water ; and when danger might result 
to some internal organ, as in cases of organic diseases of 
the heart, or a tendency to internal congestion, or when 
there is sensitiveness of the nervous system ; in either 
of these instances this bath is to be substituted for the 
cold. The shock and the reaction are intended to be 
the same thing in kind, but simply different in degree. 

Warm Bath. — The immediate effect of the warm 
bath is generally the opposite of the cold. The first im- 
pression of the warm bath is grateful, the whole nervous 
system is soothed, and a gentle languor steals over the 
mind. Slight pains, spasms and irritations are removed, 



116 Hand-Book of Saratoga. 

and general irritations is not unfrequently allayed in 
baths varying from 92° to 98°. If the temperature of 
the bath is increased, the tranquility is superseded by 
excitement and pain. If the heat be still increased, the 
feelings are painfully excited, and the temporary stimu- 
lus is followed by a proportional degree of exhaustion. 
The warm bath influences the system either by elevating 
the temperature of the whole body or a part of it. If 
the temperature of the parts of the body which come in 
contact with the medium, is higher than the medium 
itself, the body makes an effort to bring the medium to 
its own temperature, and vice versa. The range of tem- 
perature to which the body is subject is not a very wide 
one. "While life remains, it is limited to a few degrees. 
In a bath the skin exhales and absorbs materials from 
the bath in a proportion varied by its temperature. At 
50° the absorption exceeds the transudation; from 50° 
to 70° the two effects are nearly balanced ; but from 70° 
upward the transudation exceeds the absorption, and the 
excess progressively increases with the temperature. 
Warm water modifies the texture of the skin, perhaps in 
part by absorption, and partly from a specific action on 
the animal fibre. This bath also regulates the circula- 
tion, and increases the volume of the whole person, as 
well as the amount of the fluids in the body. After 
long fatigue, as hard walking, riding, or any severe 
exercise, the body, as before said, should be left to cool, 
before going into the bath, which would be grateful to 
the patient. This is in general from 94° to 96°. After 
the fatigues of a few days' travel the skin becomes dry, 
the secretions are diminished, the blood is irregularly 



Hand-Book of Saratoga. 117 

distributed, the nervous system is excited, and a low 
slow fever frequently supervenes. Under this state of 
the system the warm bath is an appropriate prescription. 

After long and continued mental excitement, as in 
protracted study, or the disturbance of the system by 
late hours, crowded rooms, and bad air, the warm bath 
is just the restorative required. 

In a dry skin, with a chronic congestion of some inter- 
nal organ, the bath is an appropriate remedy. It is also 
applicable to a more generally deranged state of the sys- 
tem, as in chronic nervous diseases of a spasmodic 
character, unattended by phthisis or inflammation of the 
nervous centres. Of this kind are croup and convul- 
sions generally. Also in the treatment of nervous af- 
fections which occur in persons of spare habit, who 
suffer from pain disproportioned to the attending inflam- 
mation. Of this kind may be mentioned the numerous 
forms of neuralgia, including sciatica, lumbago, gastral- 
gia, colic, spasms from gall-stones, calculi in the ureters, 
&c. In inflammation of the abdominal and pelvic organs, 
when the inflammation has been in a measure reduced, 
as in dysentery, diarrhoea, enteritis, cystitis, the bath at 
96° or 97° is a useful remedy. Care, in these instances, 
must be taken to reduce the inflammation first, and then 
to use the bath not above 97°, or the disease will be 
aggravated rather than diminished. 

The bath is also an appropriate remedy in diseases of 
the same viscera unattended perhaps by pain, but yet of 
a very annoying character. Such are those cases of 
gastro-euteritis accompanied by dyspepsia, constipation, 
also chronic irritation or inflammation of the bladder, 



118 Hand-Book of Saratoga. 

kidneys, leucorrhoea and the like diseases, which so fre- 
quently occur in the pelvic viscera. 

In no cases are these baths more applicable, or at- 
tended with more prompt and happy results. For cases 
of dyspepsia, especially where the functions of the skin 
are deranged, its appearance altered, and attended by a 
fixed distress or pain in some part of the digestive organ, 
the bath is also one of the most important remedies ; 
But it is also valuable in various chronic diseases of a 
cachectic kind, with derangements of important organs, 
a depressed state of the blood, with an irregular distri- 
bution of it, as in cases of long protracted dyspepsia, 
with constipation, diabetes, chlorosis, and gout. In this 
last disease the bath is to be used in interims between 
the paroxysms, and not during the acute state of the 
disease. 

In diseases of the skin, either idiopathic or sympto- 
matic, the warm bath is of the first importance. It acts 
directly on the part diseased, and removes the morbid 
secretions from the surface which are liable to irritate 
the organ, and to be reabsorbed. 

The alkaline, astringent, and alterative medicines, are 
proper in these baths. In medicated baths the patient 
should remain not less than thirty minutes, and some- 
times perhaps for two or three hours, in order to obtain 
the whole effect which is to be desired. 

The temperature of a bath required for refreshment, 
must be between 93° and 98° Fahr. But lower than 
93° is not often agreeable to the patient, and higher 
than 98° produces exhaustion and debility. 



Hand-Book or Saratoga. . 119 

The Hot Bath is a powerful, yet temporary stimu- 
lant to the nervous and vascular systems. It does not 
soothe or promote the natural actions of the system, but 
excites them irregularly and forcibly. It tends more to 
disturb than to equalize the functions of the organs. It 
violently excites the heart and blood vessels, the carotids 
swell and throb, the heat of the head increases, and 
headache, giddiness, and many other cerebral symptoms 
ensue ; the skin becomes red and swollen by the great 
afflux of blood in its vessels. But this engorged state of 
the skin does not relieve internal congestion, as we 
might be led to expect, for experience teaches that con- 
trary results more generally follow. The great tension 
of the surface is after a time relieved by a profuse and 
general perspiration, and if the bath is continued, al- 
though the pulse remain quick, the increased excitement 
is speedily followed by general lassitude and debility ; 
torpor and somnolency supervene. Cases for its use are 
spasmodic cholera, agues, &c. In sudden recessions of 
diseases of the skin, as in measles, scarlet fever, im- 
petigo, and enteritis, from retrocedent gout, &c, and in 
indolent diseases of the skin in paralysis, where there 
is no congestion of the brain to contra indicate it, its use 
has been beneficial. But it is a very active agent, and, 
like all other decidedly active agents, must be used with 
caution, or great and irreparable injuries may result. 

The stimulating effects and the relaxing consequences 
constitute the value of this bath. 

Mineral Water Baths. — Without entering into 
the question of the actively absorbent power of the skin, 



120 



Hand-Book of Saratoga. 



and the large amount of medicine which may be con- 
veyed into the system by this great and important or- 
gan, it may be safely said, that the mineral baths have 
an effect very different from simple water. They are 
more tonic than one of ordinary water. The skin, weak- 
ened and relaxed by debility, exudes rather than per- 
spires, and will be very differently affected by a fresh 
and a mineral bath. The latter beside accomplishing 
all that the former can possibly do, has in addition a 
stimulant and tonic effect. It will leave the capillaries 
of the skin more constringed, and the tissues of the 
whole organ more firm and vigorous. 

In extreme cases of cutaneous disease, patients have 
been benefited by remaining several hours at a time in a 
warm bath, with repetition at short intervals, so as to be 
under its influence for ten or twelve hours out of the 
twenty-four. 

From great indifference to the subject of bathing, the 
public mind has within a few years been turned to it 
strongly, and now perhaps there may be as much dan- 
ger of excess as heretofore there has been from neglect. 
Extremes in all things are to be deplored and guarded 
against. 



CHAPTER VII. 



ROCK, FOSSILS AND MINERALS. 

Potsdam Sandstone. — This rock is interesting from 
the fact that it contains an early fossil, viz : the lin- 
gula. This fossil carries us back to the dawn of animal 
life on the earth, for it has been present through all the 



Hand-Book of Saratoga. 121 

changes which the earth's crust has undergone since the 
formation of the Potsdam sandstone to the present time. 
Each group, in every geological era, has a species of the 
lingula entombed in its rocks, and even the ocean is said 
to contain living specimens of the same species, which 
in due time will make part of the rock, which is now in 
process of formation at the bottom of the seas. This 
rock is called the paleozoic base,* and crops out about 
two and a half miles northwest from the village. It is 
gray, or brownish-colored rock. 

The Calciferotjs Sand Rock is the next geological 
formation above the Potsdam sandstone. It lies between 
the last named rock and the limestone. This is the 
lowest rock which contains anthracite coal. In this in- 
stance, the coal is associated with quartz. This rock 
also contains fucoides, which are supposed to be the 
source from which the coal is derived. This is the sur- 
face rock at Saratoga Spring, and is the rock through 
which the mineral water rises. The upper layer of this 
group, or that stratum which lies next to the limestone, 
is hard ; having a large proportion of silex, and fre- 
quently contains geodes filled with crystals of quartz. 
This rock furnishes but few fossils, some portions none 
at all. 

Oolitic Rock. — This formation occurs in the calci- 
ferous group, and lies along the southern extremities of 
the Palmertown and Kayaderosseras mountains. The 

* This base must hereafter be carried down to the Laurentian formation 
as the rhyzopod has been found in the lower beds of these rocks. 

12 



122 Hand-Book of Saratoga. 

calcareous concretions which characterize this formation 
are arranged in successive layers through the stratum in 
which they appear. They are about the size of mustard 
seed, and globular in form. In some of the specimens, 
these globules compose one half of the stone. 

The Trenton Limestone group is composed of slate 
and limestone alternating with each otter. Some of the 
strata contain fossils which characterize this group, and 
distinguish it from others higher in the geological series. 
This rock does not occur east of Schenectady, in the 
Mohawk valley, or east of Baker's Falls, in the Hudson 
river valley, but is found at Glen's Falls and at Bow- 
land's Mills, two miles west of Saratoga Springs. It oc- 
cupies the bank of the Mohawk, near Amsterdam, thence 
ranges northward into Saratoga county, thence eastward 
around the points of the mountain, and enters Warren 
county at Glen's Falls, and Washington county, near 
Sandyhill. The strata vary in thickness from four inches 
to two feet. This rock has been worked, and some of 
the varieties make very fair marble. Other specimens 
contain cherts and hornstone, and will not receive a pol- 
ish. Large blocks of the marble, quite pure, are quar- 
ried at Glen's Falls, on the south side of the river. The 
Hudson river, at Glen's Falls, would seem to have worn 
a passage through the lime rocks, seventy feet in depth ; 
and in some parts of the narrow gorge, between Glen's 
Falls and Baker's Falls, through which the river flows, 
the rocks on either side have a perpendicular height of 
more than one hundred feet. 

Utica Slate. — This group consists of dark colored 



Hand-Book of Saratoga. 123 

argillaceous slate. It occurs at Baker's Falls, Cohoes 
Falls, Ballston Spa, and Saratoga lake. The rock is 
sometimes black, and highly carbonaceous, and glazed 
with anthracite. 

So highly charged is this slate with carbon, that it 
has been mistaken for coal, and attempts (it is said), 
have been made to work the rock for that purpose. 

The Hudson River Slate group extends from the 
southern line of the county of Saratoga, forming the bed 
of the Hudson to Baker's Falls, and also of the Mohawk, 
and forms in part, the elevated table lands lying back 
from both the Mohawk and the Hudson rivers. Por- 
tions of this group are singularly contorted at the Co- 
hoes Falls, Visscher's Ferry, Alexander's Bridge, Upper 
Aqueduct and Snake Hill, on the east shore of Saratoga 
lake. The rocks of this group are slates, shales and 
grits, and have been called Greywacke slate, Greywacke 
shale, and Greywacke.* 

Hudson River Group. — These rocks are found at 
Snake Hill, on the east shore of Saratoga lake, and on 
the Mohawk at the lower aqueduct. 

The remaining rocks of the county are primary, occu- 
pying about two-fifths of the north-west parts of it. 

FOSSILS. 

The fossils in this county are principally found at 
Ashley's Quarry, Baker's Falls, Ballston Spa, Galway, 
Glen's Falls, Greenfield, Sandy Hill, Snake Hill, and 
Waterford. 

* New York Geological Report. 



124 Hand-Book of Saratoga. 

Ashley's quarry. 

This quarry is situated about four miles west of the 
village, and on the road leading to Rowland's Mills, via 
Cady Hill. 

The quarry may be seen a few rods north of the point 
where the highway crosses the mill-pond ; and a small 
cluster of buildings in the same direction, and near by, 
will enable even a stranger to identify the place. The 
quarry has been considerably worked in times past, which 
increases the facility for obtaining fossil specimens. 

The following fossils were obtained during the autumn 
of 1858, and no doubt a suitable effort will very much 
extend this list of such as are peculiar to the " Trenton 
Limestone Formation : " 

Asaphus latimarginata, Leptsena alternata, 

Atrypa acutirostra, Leptaena fasciata, 

Atrypa extans, Leptasna sericea. 

Atrypa increbescens, 

Atrypa modesta, Orthoceras anellum, 

Atrypa plena. Orthoceras junceum, 

Orthoceras laqueatum. 
Buthotrephis flexuosa, 

Buthotrephis succulens, Paloephycus rugosus, 

Capulus auriformis, Pleurotoiriaria turgida, 

Chsetetes Lycoperdon, Poteriocrinus alternatus. 

Colurniiaria alveolata. 

Retepora incepta, 

Glyptocriuus decadactylus, Retepors gracilis. 
Graptolithus ramosus, 

Graptolithus scalaris, Schizocrinus nodosus, 

Graptolithus Sagittarius. Scyphocrinus heterocostalis. 

Stictopora acuta, 

Heterocrinus decadactalus, Stictopora fenestrata. 
Illsenus crassicanda. 

baker's falls. 

These falls are in the Hudson river, about twenty 
miles north-east of Saratoga Springs. The more feasible 



Hand-Book of Saratoga. 125 

way to reach them, is by railroad from the Springs to 
Moreau Station, and thence by stage to the Falls. 

The fossils occur in a stratum of the Utica slate, is 
about thirty feet in thickness, and which is literally com- 
posed of fossil impressions, remarkably well preserved. 

On the east bank of the stream the rocks are more 
upturned and displaced than upon the opposite bank, 
which is therefore the better place to collect fossil speci- 
mens ', besides, the rocks on the west bank are more 
horizontal, and unless the water is very low, are 
generally covered. 

Among the fossils to be obtained at this locality are 
the 

Graptolithus secalinus, Graptolithus pristis. 

BALLSTON SPA. 

The fossils of this locality are to be found in the vil- 
lage of Ballston, about seven miles south-west of Sara- 
toga Springs. The rock which contains them is the 
Utica slate, and forms the bed of a small stream near 
the residence of the late Hon. John Taylor. 

The fossils are the 

Graptolithus bicornis, Graptolithus ramosus, 

Graptolithus pristis, Graptolithus serratulus. 



GALWAY. 

This locality is about two miles east of Galway Corners, 
and near a lime kiln, and fourteen miles from Saratoga. 
The rock is the Trenton limestone, and the casts of the 



126 



Hand-Book of Saratoga. 



fossils are better preserved than those of the same class 
at Glen's Falls. 
The fossils are the 



Atrypa acutirostra, 
Atrypa extans, 
Atrypa increbescens, 
Atrypa modesta, 
Atrypa plena. 

Bellerophon bilobatus, 
Butbotrepbis flexuosa, 
Butbotrephis succulens. 

Capulus axiriformiB, 
Chsetetes lycoperdon, 
Columnaria alveolata. 

Glyptocrinus decadactylus, 
Graptolithus ramosus, 
Graptolitbus scalaris, 
Graptolitbus Sagittarius. 

Heterocrinus beterodactylus. 



Elsenus crassicanda. 

Leptsena alternata, 
Leptaena fasciata, 
Leptsena serica. 

Ortboceras junceum, 
Ortboceras laqueatum. 

Palseophycus rugosus, 
Pleurotomaria ambigua. 

Betepora incepta, 
B etepora gracilis. 

6cbizocrinus nodosus, 
Scyphocrinus beterocostalis, 
Stictopora acuta, 
Stictopora fenestrata. 



GLEN S FALLS 

Is about twenty miles north-east from Saratoga Springs, 
and about four miles up the stream from Baker's Falls. 
Extensive quarrying has been done heretofore at this 
place, which exposed the fossils in great numbers; but 
at the present time the Paleontologist is mainly limited 
to the small blocks to be found at low water in the bed 
of the river. And the fossils in some of these blocks are 
so highly crystalline that the nice striae of the shells are 
often destroyed in splitting the stones. 

The following specimens are to be found at this place : 

Atrypa acutirostra, Butbotrepbis flexuosa, 
Atrypa extans, 

Atrypa increbescens, Butbotrephis succulens, 

Atrypa modesta. Bellerophon bilobatus. 



Hand-Book op Saratoga. 127 

Columnaria alveolata, Leptnena sericea. 

Calymene senaria. 

Palaeophycus simplex, 

Delthyrus lynx. Poteriocrinua alternata. 

Escharopora recta. Stictopora acuta. 

Lepfoena alternata, Trinuclius concentricus. 

GREENFIELD 

Lies about four miles north-west of Saratoga Springs, 
and one mile north of Miller Hoyt's lime-kiln, and on 
the east side of the highway leading from Greenfield 
Centre to the village of Ballston Spa, via Rowland's 
Mills. Oolites are also found at this place. 

SANDY HILL, 

Lying between Baker's Falls and Glen's Falls, on the 
west side of the Hudson river, and a few rods below the 
ferry, can only be examined when the water is low in 
the river. 

The fossils are the 

Nultainia concentrica, Graptolithus dentatus. 

Neirthua becii. 

SARATOGA SPRINGS. 

In the Railroad cut in the village of Saratoga Springs 
were found the 

Euomphalus uniangulatus. Pleurotomariaturgida. 

SNAKE HILL 

Is situated on the east shore of Saratoga lake, and is 
plainly to be seen from the Lake house j indeed it is the 
most prominent feature of the eastern shore. 
The fossils are the 

Heterocrinus grascilis, Graptolithus bicornis, 

Olenus undulostriatus, Graptolithus pristis. 



128 Hand-Book of Saratoga. 

waterford 

Is in the south-east corner of the county, and has the 

following variety of fossils or specimens : 

Ambonychia radiata, Lyrodesma pulchella, 

Belleropbon cancellatus, Modiolopsis nuculiformis, 

Cleidophorus planulatus, Murchisonia gracilis, 

Carinaropsis patelliformis, Theca triangularis, 

Carinaropsis orbiculatus, Trinucleus concentricus. 

Magnetic Iron Ore occurs in the primary rocks of 
this county as an injected mass, or as an intrusive rock. 
A large body of this ore exists in the mountain south of 
the confluence of Sacondaga with the Hudson ; and 
about two miles south of Hadley or Rockwell falls. Ten 
or fifteen veins have been described, and one from five 
to eight feet wide. When the Porter vein was opened, 
it was found to increase in width as the rock was pene- 
trated, while the feldspar diminished. The ore is said 
to make very soft, strong iron, and to be superior even to 
the Arnold bed. It is quartzy, and yields from thirty to 
fifty per cent, of iron. 

Chrysoberyl is found about two miles north of Sa- 
ratoga Springs, and on the farm of the late John Miller. 
It occurs in a vein of granite traversing gneiss, and is 
associated with tourmaline, garnet, apatite, feldspar, and 
mica, and is found no where else in the state. 

Clay Balls are found about the shores of Saratoga 
lake. They are supposed to form around the roots of 
plants, as they generally have a perforation in which the 
root of the plant has been sometimes seen. Probably 
the root absorbs the water and the carbonic acid from 



1\ i 



Hand-Book of Saratoga. 129 

the clay, aud rejects the carbonate of lime, which had 
been previously held in solution by the water and the 
carbonic acid. This accumulates around the root of the 
plant, which with the clay becomes after a time an in- 
durated egg-shaped ball. 

Boulders are rounded masses of rock, of no deter- 
minate size, out of place and apparently transported by 
water, and are supposed to have been brought to their 
present shape by attrition and atmospheric influences. 
Those which are found in the valley of the Hudson, are 
generally thought to have been brought from the primi- 
tive rocks, which form the mountain ranges in northern 
New York. In this county we find these stones in a 
great variety of forms and sizes, many of them weighing 
many tons. The largest specimens may be found in the 
towns of Hadley, Corinth, Greenfield, Galway, and Ball- 
ston. 

Marl. — Fresh water marl is formed by the decay of 
successive generations of shells, in the bottom of fresh 
water lakes and ponds. When, from any cause, these 
places are raised to a level compatible with the germin- 
ation of seed, there follows a succession of growth and 
decay of vegetable matter, which may result in a deposit 
of peat, and hence it is not unusual to find peat overlying 
the marl. Marl has not been found very generally in 
this county. There is a bed of it however, about the 
outlet of Ballston lake, on the farm of Mr. Irish, which 
has been used as a fertilizer, and with marked success. 
It would undoubtedly prove profitable to agriculture, 
if farmers would use much more of it than they now do, 



130 Hand-Book of Saratoga. 

for the action of the elements on the chemicals gene- 
rally present in soils, renders the lime soluble, and it is 
actually carried away. 

There is another bed of marl on the farm of Dr. Oliver 
Brisbin, in the town of Saratoga, which has been but 
little used as yet, but wherever it has been applied, deci- 
dedly beneficial effects have followed.* It has been sus- 
pected by geologists, that it may underlie the sandy soils 
which prevail to so large an extent in this county. But 
the probability is, that beds of marl will be confined to 
that part of the county adjacent to the limestone forma- 
tion, for the water of such region, flowing over the lime- 
stone rocks, at last finds its way into the lakes, otherwise 
sufficient lime would not be supplied to produce a de- 
posite of shells. 

Soil is composed of various mineral substances, united 
in comparatively small proportions with animal and vege- 
table matter. The mineral parts of soil are composed of 
the same substances which constitute the mountain rocks, 
and the mineral masses which form the crust of the earth. 
The rocks are broken down by degrees, and then acted 
upon by air and water, by which process they become 
well adapted to the reception and vegetation of seed 
generally. The varieties of rocks and mineral masses 
which exist on the earth and compose its surface, are 
comparatively small, and may be comprised in the fol- 
lowing list, viz : Silica, alumina, magnesia, soda, potassa, 
and oxyde of iron. 

With the predominance of either of the above sub- 

* The town of Malta contains beds of marl, one of which is on the farm of 
the late John P. Talmage. 



Hand-Book of Saratoga. 131 

stances in a given locality, the soil, of course, as well as 
the character of the vegetables, correspondingly varies. 

Siliciotjs Soil, or that composed principally of silex, 
is very widely spread over the earth's crust. It is found 
in quartz, and of course enters largely into the composi- 
tion of granite, and the various silicates, as serpentine, 
tumalite, diallage, and hornblende; and when we exam- 
ine the rocks which compose the mountains to the north 
and west of the county, and consider the very large pro- 
portion of silex which enters into their composition, we 
are at no loss to account for the origin of the sandy 
plains which there prevail so extensively. 

Where this sand occurs in coarse grains it is much 
less productive as a soil, than when more comminuted ; 
and the less or greater degree of trituration which the 
particles have undergone, will determine, in part, the 
different degrees of productiveness which characterize 
adjacent sections. 

Soils, apparently the same, also differ materially in 
their degree of productiveness, in consequence of the 
different amounts of vegetable matter contained in them, 
and are rendered still less fertile if they occupy elevated 
land, where water, at a low temperature, saturates the 
surfa.ce. In localities of this description pasturage is 
poor, and plowed lands are unavailable. In other cases, 
where clay exists in combination with sand so as to pro- 
duce a sand loam, very fair farms are developed. This 
soil prevails in the town of Saratoga Springs, Wilton, 
Corinth, Hadley, and the west part of Moreau and North- 
umberland. In a large proportion of Eastern New York, 



132 Hand-Book of Saratoga. 

and generally in fifteen out of twenty counties of the 
state. 

Aluminous, is the variety of soil next in abundance, 
the base of which is alumina. It is formed by the 
breaking down of greywacke slates, and shales and in 
combination with silex, forms a large proportion of the 
rocks and mineral masses on the earth. The slate rocks 
crop out on the Ellis Farm two miles south of the springs. 
From this point they run in a north-east direction to 
Fort Miller, on the Hudson, and may be seen skirting 
the sand plains on their eastern border, from the town of 
Clifton Park to Moreau. 

When alumina is in excess, in soils, it makes cold and 
wet farms, but when combined with silex the clay loam 
is formed ; this with the addition of an ordinary amount 
of vegetable and animal matter, gives good farming lands : 
and when to this is added marl, or lime in some form, 
farming land of the best quality is the result. 

This is the composition of the soil along the banks of 
the Hudson and Mohawk rivers, also about the Saratoga 
and Ballston lakes, and the creeks in the south-east part 
of the county. This soil is of considerable depth, and 
very productive, yielding grass and all the cereals in 
abundance ; and I am told, in districts of this character, 
strangers, passing by, mistaking pastures for meadows, 
in the goodness of their hearts, not unfrequently call at 
the farm-houses, and inform the occupants that their 
cows or horses are in their meadows. 

The Calcareous Soils, or those in which lime pre- 
dominates, are the result of the breaking down of the 



Hand-Book of Saratoga. 133 

different forms of carbonate of lime, which exist so 
abundantly through the world. 

The Magnesian Soil is that in which magnesia 
exists, variously combined. This and the soils just be- 
fore named, prevail in Western New York, and with the 
addition of gypsum, and large quantities of vegetable 
and animal matter combined, make up the rich lands of 
that fertile region. 

Ferruginous Soils are those in which the oxydes of 
iron prevail. 

VEGETABLE PRODUCTIONS. 

To the botanist this whole country is full of interest j 
indeed, it may perhaps with truth be asserted, that every 
flowering plant in the country to be found in the lati- 
tude of this county, has its representative within its 
limits. 

From an acquaintance with the nature and variety of 
the soils which prevail in the County, it might be readily 
inferred, that a correspondent variety would be found in 
its vegetable products. This is observable in the forest 
timber and smaller plants. 

In the eastern and southern portions of the county, 
apples, and peaches, have once abounded ; but now, the 
varieties are few, and the fruit is not so rich as formerly. 

Cherries. — Every variety succeeds well. 

Pears succeed remarkably well, in nearly every variety. 
In the central portion, the small fruits, as strawberries, 
raspberries, whortleberries, and blackberries, are indi- 
genous and abundant, and will bear high cultivation. 
13 



134 Hand-Book of Saratoga. 

Several varieties of wild grapes highly improved by 
the process of cultivation are abundant in the sandy por- 
tion of the county. Maples, hickories, elms, oaks, but- 
ternuts, chestnuts, beeches, birches, basswoods, aspens, 
black and white ash, black cherry, and crab apples, are 
plenty in the eastern part of the county. 

The central portion has been, and is now remarkable 
for the number, beauty, and variety of its evergreens. 
The species of these most common, are white and yellow 
pines, yellow, white, and red cedar, double spruce, bal- 
sam, and hemlock. The sand plains on the central part 
of the flat, were once covered with a heavy growth of 
these fine trees ; but the hand of improvement, so called, 
has swept them recklessly away, and unless some care is 
taken, it may be that before very long, our beautiful 
groves will all disappear, and the charms of our winter 
landscapes will all be gone. It is not very long since, 
when expostulating with a land-holder for cutting away 
every trace of evergreen within view of his residence, we 
received the cool reply, that they were " nothing but 
pines." And so those stately trees, old tenants of the 
forest, which had weathered the storm and glinted the 
sunshine, and braced themselves against the winds of 
centuries, were felled and riven by the axe of the wood- 
man without a single thought of regret, or a single sen- 
timent of remorse. 

Grasses. — Those parts of the county lying along the 
banks of the Hudson and Mohawk rivers, the Kayade- 
rosseras creek, and the shores of the lakes, are well 
adapted to the growth of grasses. 






Hand-Book op Saratoga. 135 

Timothy is one of the most important grasses for fodder, 
and is abuudantly produced in the above mentioned 
parts of the county. 

Clover grows luxuriantly in most parts of the county. 
T*he red is much used to redeem farms which have been 
too much worn by want of a proper rotation of crops. 
The white clover is indigenous. The fox tail (Alopei- 
cearus practensis), and red top, are the most cultivated 
for hay. 

Grains. — Rye is much cultivated, and the sandy por- 
tions of the county are particularly well adapted to the 
growth of this esculent grain, which when ground, and 
combined with corn meal, makes a very healthy and nu- 
tritious bread. Two varieties, the winter and spring rye, 
are cultivated. 

Wheat. — This favorite grain was much cultivated in 
the county in early times, but in later years it has been 
so much injured by the weevil, that it is but rarely sown. 
The spring wheat is less likely to be injured by the in- 
sects than the winter wheat, but is not considered so 
good for bread, and is therefore but little cultivated at 
the present time ; and the inhabitants mainly depend 
upon the western country for their wheat flour. 

Oats are much cultivated, and may be said to be one 
of the staple crops. They are mainly used as feed for 
horses. 

Maize is the most important grain crop raised, and 
every farmer produces more or less of it, and it consti- 
tutes quite a large proportion of the bread, in the least 
productive parts of the county. 



136 Hand-Book of Saratoga. 

Potato. — This plant is well adapted to the climate 
and soil of the county. Large crops of it are cultivated 
along the canals and railroads, and a great number of 
bushels every year find their way to New York city. 
The potato enters largely into the daily food of all classes 
of the people, and is one of the most important crops. 

Buckwheat is cultivated to some extent: 

Beans grow well, and it is to be regretted that they 
are not more cultivated and eaten by the laboring classes 
almost universally. 

Most of the county is well adapted to horticulture ; 
and all the garden vegetables usually cultivated in the 
same latitude flourish in the soils of this region. It is 
to be regretted, there is so much negligence on the part 
of land-holders in regard to private gardens. An in- 
creased amount and variety of vegetables would add 
greatly to the comfort of the household, and a little care 
in the cultivation of flowers and ornamental shrubs, 
would furnish healthful and pleasant employment to the 
younger members of the family, and greatly improve 
their habits of observation. 

DRIVES ABOUT SARATOGA. 

The . drive most commonly selected is to Saratoga 
lake. This is a beautiful sheet of water, and lies four 
miles east of the village. The lake is eight miles long 
and two and a half wide. Its main inlet is the Kaya- 
derosseras creek, which flows into the lake from the 
west. The water of the lake passes through Fish creek 
and unites with that of the Hudson river, at Schuyler- 



Hand-Book op Saratoga. 137 

ville. The western shore of the lake near its outlet, 
rises into a beautiful bluff of fifty feet, and on the top of 
this bluff is the Lake house, from the piazza of which 
may be had a fine view of the lake and its eastern shore, 
with Snake hill. 

The Lake House is a favorite eating place, where 
game dinners are served up in the most approved style. 
Persons fond of angling, rowing, or sailing, can here 
enjoy their favorite pastime, on one of the most beauti- 
ful lakes in the country. The bait-fish and the boats 
are always in waiting on the shore, and cooks are in 
readiness to serve up, at short notice, any fish which 
may chance to be caught. 

Chapman's Hill. — The angling and sailing may be 
dispensed with, and the drive be extended across the 
bridge, along the lake shore for a mile, where a turn to 
the left up the till, will soon bring one to Chapman's 
Hill, from the top of which, one hundred and eighty- 
eight feet above the level of the lake, a beautiful 
western landscape is spread before the observer. The 
lake is almost under his feet, a mirrored surface of 
twenty miles square. The western shore of the lake 
rises rapidly to the table-land, which spreads away to 
the west, a distance often or twelve miles, and is merged 
in the base of the Kayaderosseras mountain, giving a 
view from forty to fifty miles in extent. Its surface is 
beautifully variegated with fallow, meadow, and wood- 
land, and the tenements and out buildings of the fanners 
are thickly scattered and reflect, each for itself, a few 
sunbeams, making many bright spots in the landscape ; 



138 Hand-Book of Saratoga. 

while in the background, the hold range of the Kaya- 
derosseras mountain rises to the height of two thousand 
feet above the level of tide-water, and stretches along 
the horizon for fifty or sixty miles. . The mountain 
rises out of the table-fand, as its base, and lifts up its 
summit into the sky, while the distance tints its peak 
with a most exquisite azure. 

Wagman's Hill. — By continuing the drive for 
about three miles, through a rich farming country, a 
view~6f Wagman's Hill is obtained. This point is 
fifty-seven feet higher than Chapman's Hill, and com- 
mands a more extended panoramic view. The Adiron- 
dac mountains bound the river to the extreme north, the 
Kayaderosseras spreading a deep blue border along the 
western horizon, the Helderberg and the Catskill skirts 
the distant south, while the Green mountain chain 
borders the eastern view, each subdued and softened by 
distance, as the tops blend with the sky. This very 
beautiful view as it spreads away to the north-west and 
1 to the south-west, places within the range of the eye, 
one thousand square miles of farming lands, with waving 
grain and deep shaded meadows ; the mountain forest, 
and the wood lot of the farmer, casting a cool shade 
across the fallow field, as though to protect it from the 
scorching rays of a summer's sun, while the Fish creek, 
winding its way to the Hudson, and increased by many a 
mountain stream^ enlivens and beautifies the whole land- 
scape. This hill is seven miles from town, to which a 
party can go and return by Stafford's bridge and Avery's 
Lake house, in ample time for dinner. 



Hand-Book of Saratoga. 139 

Hagerty Hill, six miles north of Saratoga Springs, 
and nearly on the plank road leading from the village to 
Luzerne on the Hudson river, is about half a mile due 
west from Greenfield Centre, and commands a western, 
southern, and eastern view.* On the west rises the 
bold range of the Kayaderosseras mountain, extending 
far away to the north, and to the south is spread out a 
wide plain, covered with evergreens, and bounded by 
high and broken ranges of mountain land south of the 
Mohawk river, while to the east, a still more beautiful 
landscape greets the eye. 

Almost under the feet and spreading away to the east, 
lies a deep basin, thickly dotted over with farms, wood- 
land, villages and lakes, and margined on its extreme 
east by the Green mountains. This is a beautiful drive 
of six miles out, and on returning to town, the road east 
through Greenville Centre, will give a partial, yet very 
pretty view from Meeting House hill, midway between 
Greenfield Centre and St. John's . Corners. At St. 
John's the right hand road which leading over the 
Hewit and Westcott Hills is to be taken. These 
hills give quite pretty views of distant mountain scenery, 
and make a little variety to the drive, without materially 
increasing the distance. 

Waring Hill. — The boldest and most imposing view 
within a convenient drive from the springs is Waring 
hill, on the road to Mount Pleasant. Here within 
the distance of sixteen miles, an elevation is attained of 
two thousand feet above tide-water, and one of the high- 

* This point is eight hundred feet above tide water. 



140 Hand-Book of Saratoga. 

est points of land between the valley of the Hudson and 
Lake Ontario. 

From this point of observation all the other views 
which have been previously noticed, come within the 
range of the observer's eye ; and the far distant tops of 
the mountains as they gradually pass into the azure sky, 
make a charming landscape bordering. This view in- 
cludes the villages of Saratoga, Ballston Spa, Schenec- 
tady, Waterford, Mechanicsville, Schuylerville, Saratoga 
lake, Fish creek, Owl pond, Ballston lake and Round 
lake; together with the winding stream of Kayaderos- 
seras, from its source in the sides of the mountain to its 
entrance into Saratoga lake, and the whole course of the 
Hudson from its confluence with the Sacandaga, until it 
is lost in the midst of the Catskill mountains. These 
all lie within the range of the eye of the observer as he 
stands on the top of Waring hill. Here, also, may be 
traced the wide-spread valley, as it lies between the 
Kayaderosseras mountain on the west, the Green moun- 
tains on the east, and the Palmerton on the north, dotted 
with woodland and cultivated farms. And as the clouds 
occasionally pass over the landscape casting their shadow 
here and there, on the meadow, the fallow and the grove, 
an additional beauty is added to all, by the mellow 
blending of the varied tints. And when autumn comes 
and spreads its sear and yellow leaf and tinges the maple 
foliage with its high colorings, the contrast with our 
abundant evergreen lends to our wild mountain scenery 
a gorgeous beauty which is rarely equaled, and but sel- 
dom if ever surpassed. 

This last mentioned view is obtained by a drive up 



Hand-Book of Saratoga. 141 

the Hadley plank road, of about eight miles, thence 
along the Mount Pleasant plank -road nearly up to the 
foot of Waring hill, six miles, thence to the right by a 
mountain road for half a mile. At this point the car- 
riages are to be left, and Waring hill of three hundred 
feet is to be ascended on foot. The excursion may be 
made between the breakfast and dinner hours, with 
great ease. A good glass is important, for many of the 
villages are not to be seen distinctly by the naked eye. 

Corinth Falls. — Another drive is Corinth Falls* 
These falls are fifteen miles north of Saratoga Springs, 
in the Hudson river, about one mile from Jessup's Land- 
ing. At this village is a comfortable public house, and 
also a convenient place to dine. In order to view the 
falls from the Luzerne side, it is necessary to cross the 
river at the landing, and then drive to the top of the 
bluff, which rises one hundred feet above the falls, or 
to the bank of the river below them. The rapids in the 
river begin about a mile above the cataract, and the 
stream narrows as it approaches the precipice, to fifty 
feet. Through this narrow channel the water of the 
stream is driven one hundred and fifty feet with great 
force, where it suddenly widens to about one hundred 
feet, and the water appears to fall into a deep chasm, 
from which it ascends in billows of foam, and immedi- 
ately makes its last leap over a precipice of more than 
sixty feet.* The deep gorge above them affords no 
opportunity for building, and the high bluff above the 

* Since this work has been in type, a company from New York has he- 
gun to use the stream for manufacturing purposes. 



142 Hand-Book of Saratoga. 

cataract is so situated, that any other than private resi- 
dences would be impracticable. The place is in nearly 
its native wildness. The high banks upon either side 
of the river are covered with pine, cedar and hemlock ; 
and the rocks with a variety of moss. The lover of the 
picturesque will find himself well repaid for his time and 
fatigue, by a few hours' contemplation of the wild beauty 
and lovely solitude of this fine cataract. 

Ellis Spring. — Another drive is down the Ballston 
road two miles, to the Ellis Spring. This spring is near 
the railroad, a few rods from where the Ballston high- 
way crosses the Saratoga and Schenectady railroad, and 
on the west slope of the hill. 

This spring is an acidulous carbonated water, and is in 
the mineral range. The water, unlike those at Saratoga, 
issues from the slate rock. 

From this spring, take a westerly course across the 
pond up to Cady Hill. At Cady Hill take the right 
hand road, and drive about two miles following the bank 
of a small stream, thickly wooded along its whole length. 

Benedict's Sulphur Spring. — Just before reach- 
ing a pond, a pair of bars closes the way to a large barren 
field, a beautiful grove of evergreens skirting on the left 
of the pathway. After twenty or thirty rods the path 
turns into the grove and leads the observer to the top of 
a bluff about forty feet in height. At the base of this 
bluff is a mineral spring strongly charged with sulphur, 
known as Rowland's or Benedict's Spring. This place 
is susceptible of great improvements, and might be made 



Hand-Book of Saratoga. 143 

attractive. Across the ravine is a marble quarry which 
has been worked to a considerable extent. 

Then turn for half a mile to the right and continue 
past two roads bearing off to the east, and take the third 
road, which leads to the Hadley plank-road at Splinter- 
ville. Just before reaching the last mentioned road, 
a limestone formation is passed, unique in appearance. 
The surface of the rocks is formed into nearly concentric 
rings, whieh vary in size from an inch to eighteen inches 
in diameter. This agate appearance is not only found 
in portions of rock in the mass, but also in detached 
portions of various sizes. Near this oolitic formation, is 
Miller Hoyt's Lime Kiln, which the Saratoga Springs 
is mainly supplied With this important article. On reach- 
ing the plank-road at Splinterville, the Greenfield 
reservoir may be seen about forty or fifty rods in an 
easterly direction from the junction of the two roads. 
From this reservoir fresh water is brought in conduits 
to supplythe village. Two miles farther east the plank- 
road terminates in Broadway at the Columbian hotel. 
The whole circuit making a drive of about seven or 
eight miles. 

Stiles's Hill. — Another pleasant excursion is to be 
had, by a drive of a few miles along the east base of the 
Palmertown mountain, to Eli Stiles's, which commands 
a beautiful landscape, extending fifty or sixty miles 
down the Mohawk and Hudson rivers. To the east, is 
the mountain range, which rises up so imposingly be- 
tween the Hudson and Connecticut valleys; while on 
the north are the Green mountains of Vermont. This is 



144 Hand-Book of Saratoga. 

our best view which we have of the Hudson river valley, 
north of its confluence with the Mohawk, and commands 
the wide plains, which are spread out between the Kaya- 
derosseras mountain on the west, and the high range of 
land lying east of the Hudson river. These plains were 
covered with a noble growth of white and yellow pines, 
and other evergreens, before the woodman's axe had 
rudely cut them away, but now they are nearly shorn of 
their beauty, with only here and there a clump of trees 
to vary the flat barren sand plain. 

The different distances of the mountain peaks pro- 
duce all the variety of coloring which so greatly en- 
hances the interest of mountain views. 

There are some large boulders to be seen on the top of 
Stiles's hill, which are worthy of an examination, having 
probably been brought from the primitive mountains 
farther to the north. 



INDEX 



Page. 

Acidulous Springs 96 

Albany County 8 

Albany Well 43 

Alterative Use of the Mineral 

Waters 101 

Age, Silurian 34 

Aluminous Soils 132 

Ancient Drift 41 

Ancient Sea Beaches 47 

Ancient Sea Bottoms 41 

Andrews, Askabel 20 

Andrews, Jas. M 22 

Apple Patent 7 

Arnold, John 16 

Ashley's Quarry 124 

Baker's Falls 124 

Ballston Fossils 125 

Ballston, Town of 9 

Baptist Soc, Saratoga Springs. 30 

Barhyte. Jacobus 23 

Barrel Spring 74 

Bath 108,120 

" Douche 114 

•' Foot 114 

" Hip 114 

" Hot 114 

" Plunge 112 

" Reaction Ill 

" Refrigerating Ill 

" Shower 113 

" Sponge 113 

" Temperate 115 

" Warm 115 

Bathing 108 

Baths, Diversion 109 

Beach. Miles 27 

Benedict's Spring 142 

Bilious Diseases 100 

Blakesly, Clement 19 

Boulders 129 

Bromine 88 

Bryan, Alexander 17 

Burgoyne, General 18 

Cady Hill 142 

Calcareous Soil 132 

Tufa 49 

•Calciferous Sand Eock 36, 521 

14 



Page. 

Carbonate of Iron 87 

" ofLime 86 

" of Magnesia 86 

11 of Soda 84 

Carbonic Acid 43, 89 

Charlton, Town of 11 

Chloride of Sodium 81 

Chlorosis 104 

Chronic Rheumatism 103 

Chrysoberyl 128 

Clarke, John 56 

Clay Balls 128 

Clifton Park, Town of 14 

Columbian Spring 57 

Congress Hall 24 

Congress Spring 52 

Corinth Falls 141 

Corinth, Town of 13 

Cutaneous Diseases 103 

Douche Bath 114 

Day, Town of 13 

Diaphoretics 98 

Diseases of the West 106 

Diuretics 98 

Drift Formations 39 

Drinking Water in the Winter 107 

Drives about Saratoga 136 

Drive to Cady Hill 142 

to Chapman's Hill 137 

to Corinth Falls 140 

to Eli Stiles's 143 

to Ellis Spring 142 

to Hagerty Hill 139 

toHewit Hill 139 

to Miller Hoyt's 143 

to Lake House 137 

to Wagman' s Hill 138 

to Waring Hill 139 

Early Settlements in Saratoga . . 5 

Edinburgh, Town of 13 

Eli Stiles's 143 

Ellis Spring 142 

Empire Spring 65 

Eureka Spring 78 

Evacuant 97 

Excelsior Rock Spring 77 

Ferruginous Soils 133 



146 



Index. 



Page. 

Ford, John 28 

Fossils at Ashley's & Rowland's 123 

" at Baker's Falls 124 

at Ballstou Spa 125 

at Gahvay 125 

at Glen's Falls 126 

at Greenfield 127 

at Sandy Hill 127 

at Saratoga Springs 127 

at Snake "Hill 127 

at Waterford 128 

Galway, Town of 11, 118, 125 

Gates, General 18 

Geodes 36 

Geology 33 

Glass Works on Mount Pleasant 139 

Glen's Falls 126 

Grains of Saratoga County 135 

Grasses 134 

Grants of Land, &c 8 

Gravel 102 

Greenfield, Town of 12 

Fossils of 127 

Hadlev, Town of 13 

Hagerty Hill 139 

Halfmoon, Town of 10 

Hall, Congress 24 

Hall, Union 23 

Hamilton Spring 24, 58 

High Rock Spring 44 

Hip and Foot Baths 114 

Hot Bath 119 

Hudson River Group 123 

Hudson River Period 38 

Hudson River Slate 1 -23 

Iodide Potassa 88 

Introduction 1 

Introduction to Second Edition 2 

Iodine 88 

Iodine Spring lil 

Iron, Carbonate S7 

" Magnetic 128 

" Phosphate 88 

James M. Marvin & Co 28 

Johnson, Sir William 7, 15 

Kayaderosseras Patent 8 

Lake House 137 

Land Grants . . 8 

Law, Isaac , 17 

Lewis, Nathan 26, 27 

Limestone, Trenton 122 

Livingston, Henry 17 

Low, Nicholas 12 

Magnesian Soil 133 

Magnetic Ore 128 

Malta, Town of 13 

Marl. Deposits of 129 

Marvin & Co 28 

Miller Hoyt's 143 

Milton, Town of 11 

Mineral Fountains 41 



Page. 

Mineral Springs 97 

Mineral Water Bathing 119 

Mineral Water,rjse of, in Winter 97 

Moreau, Town of 13 

Morgan, Gideon 17 

Mount Pleasant 139 

Northumberland 13 

Norton, Samuel 17 

Oolite 36, 121 

Ore, Iron 128 

Over Taxed Brain 100 

Patents 7 

Patching, William 21 

Pavilion 27 

Pavilion Fountain 59 

Phagadenic Ulcers 103 

Phosphate of Iron 88 

Phthisis 105 

Plunge Bath 112 

Potsdam Sandstone 35, 120 

Productions, Saratoga County.. 133 

Providence, Town of 12 

Putnam, Benjamin 21 

Putnam, Gideon 18, 30 

Putnam Spring 73 

Quaker Springs 10 

Reed's Spring 79 

Reaction. , ., Ill 

Refrigeration s Ill 

Rheumatism 103 

Rocks and Fossils 120 

Rowland's or Benedict's Spring 142 

Sandstone, Calciferous 36, 121 

Sandy Hill, Fossils of 127 

Sandstone. Potsdam 35, 120 

Sans-Souci Hotel, Ballston 12 

Saratoga, County of 9 

Saratoga, Definition of 3 

Saratoga Lake 134 

Saratoga, Settlement of 5 

Saratoga Spring 13, 14, 76 

Saratoga Springs, Town of 14 

" Fossils of 127 

Saratoga, Town of 10 

Schuyler, General Philip 28 

Scidmore, Zophar 20 

Scowton, Dirick 16 

Scrofula 104 

Shower Bath 113 

Silurian age 34 

Slate, Hudson River 123 

Slate, Utica 122 

Smith, Thadeus 22 

Snake Hill 39, 127 

Soil 130, 131 

" Aluminous 132 

" Calcareous 132 

" Ferruginous 133 

" Magnesian 133 

" Silicious 131 

Splinterville 143 



Index. 



147 



Page. 

Sponge Bath 118 

Springs, Mineral 97 

Spring, Columbian 57 

' ' Congress 52 

" Empire 05 

Hamilton 24, 58 

High Rock 44 

" Iodine 61 

Pavilion 59 

" Putnam 73 

" Washington orWhite's 24,69 

White Sulphur 80 

Star Spring 61 

Stiles. Eli 143 

Steel, Dr. John II 68 

Stillwater. Town of 10 

Sulphur Spring 80 

Taylor Brothers 28 

Temperate Bath 115 

Town of Ballston 9 

11 of Clifton Park 14 

" of Corinth 13 

" of Charlton 11 

" ofDay 13 

" of Edinburgh 18 

" of Galway 11 

" of Greenfield 12 

" oflladlev 13 

" of Halfmoon 10 

" of Malta 13 



Page. 

Town of Milton 11 

" of Moreau 18 

" of Northumberland 18 

" of Providence 13 

" of Saratoga 18 

" of Saratoga Springe 14 

lt of Stillwater 10 

" of Waterford 13 

" of Wilton 13 

Trenton Limestone 37, 128 

Union Hall 88 

United States Hotel 88 

Utica Slate 188 

Van Dam, Anthony 17 

Van Dam, Rip 17 

Van Shaick Patent 7 

Vegetable Production, &c 133 

Vertical Secretion, H. Rock, S. 

Sp 46 

Waring Hill or Field 189 

Walton, Hon. Henry.. ..82 30 

Walton. Jacob 17 

Warm Bath 115 

Washington or White's Spring. 69 

Water.. 95 

Waterburv, William 89 

Waterford, Town of 13 

" Fossils of 138 

White Sulphur Spring 80 

Wilton, Town of 13 



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